Consider Your Home’s Roof Color: A Major Design Statement

Not too long ago, roof color was black — or a shade of black. Today, coordinating roof and house colors or choosing a new roof can be quite a project. So many choices and expensive ones at that. It is important to make a wise decision to avoid a long-term design disaster.

If you’re due for a new roof, congratulations! You now have a chance to select your roof color from the myriad choices that are available. Here are a few guidelines and considerations:

Gray or blue house. Stay with a traditional roof color like dark gray or black. That way your roof will blend with your house and make the whole structure seem bigger. Any other roof color will stand out too much and make the house look chopped up.

Cream, tan, or light brown house. Consider the many brown roof options, some of them with a mixture of browns that really make the house look updated and terrific. A brown roof will blend with the cream or tan and make the house look bigger. Black and gray roofs just look ordinary. A brown roof looks like you actually planned out your entire color scheme.

White house. Dark gray and black are traditional, but they work. Blue is also a terrific option. Red or green metal on a white farmhouse give a traditional country look. Bottom line on a white house: you have lots of options.

Red, green, or yellow house. You can go either way, a brown or a gray/black roof. I prefer a brown roof for red and green house colors and a black roof for a yellow house.

Of course, the same suggestions apply if you are stuck with your roof color and are looking for a paint color for the house.

Black/gray roof. The ideal house colors are gray, blue, white, and yellow.

Brown roof. The ideal house colors are cream, tan, brown, red, green.

Green roof and other colors. You can either use the roof as an accent color to the house or try to blend it by using a lighter tint of the roof color on the house itself.

Nontraditional Roofs

What about metal roofs? They’re all over Colorado, Upstate New York, and other areas of the world where snow on the roof is a major factor in the winter. Metal roofs come in a rainbow of colors, from red to green to brown to purple. If you have a metal roof, you are making a design statement (whether you mean to or not, of course) and you can treat it as an accent color, kind of like picking a front-door color. However, if you do not want to call attention to your metal roof, choose a natural roof color like dark charcoal, bronze, black, or brown instead of a color like blue.

What about terracotta roofs? These are traditionally seen on Mediterranean style homes and are a definite design feature. Keep the house color neutral to highlight the beautiful roof and the other architectural elements that are undoubtedly present.

Other nontraditional roof materials. Just like a thatched roof on an English cottage, a nontraditional roof is a design feature of the home. Hopefully, you want it that way. Choose a house color that makes the roof look like you planned it as a feature.

Regardless of what kind of roof you have, make sure you consider it when making house color decisions.

We are looking for a color to paint our house. We want to go lighter than our previous color and also want to contrast with our neighbors. Here is a picture of our house and the neighbors. We had fiber cement siding installed on the house and it is primed, so in this picture the shade is EXACTLY like the neighbors.

We are thinking of Shaker Beige, Benjamin Moore, but will that be too close to the house next door?

I have an orange color roof. Just basic shingles on a small little 50’s basic house. I despise the tan and beige colors we’ve had on it in the past but am at a loss. We are stuck between a yellow and green house so even greens and yellow are out. Help.

We are renovating a cottage-style bungalow with a stucco exterior. The roof is grey with red flecks but overall looks pink. What paint color would you recommend? It is currently a beige but I don’t like it with the pink roof…
Thanks for your reply.

I have a med gray farm cabin, dutch roof design.
Porch rails and cabin are a med to darker gray.
I need help picking a metal roof color, any direction would
be appreciated. I can send a photo, if you provide an
email address. Thank you, Steve

Hi Barbara, love your site. We are siding our house with medium brown cedar, tongue and groove. Windows are bronze, trim is dark brown cedar. Our question is what color roof to put on. We’re going with standing seam, 16″ steel roofing. We are considering dark green roofing. (forest green). The house is surrounded by conifer trees and mountains. What do you think? Evan and Debbie in Montana.

Looking for some advice. I am needing to re-stain or paint the exterior of my cedar, contemporary style lake house. The roof is green shingle and the cedar is currently stained a cinnamon brown.
1) Should I re-stain or paint? Which is better for the wood?
2) Do you have any color suggestions, I am having trouble picking colors to match the green roof. Would like the house to look intersting (have some curb appeal) but also still be inviting and comfortable.

The house is on a large wooded lot with a river behind it, so a very natural setting.

Hi
We live in a “beach community” by a lake. I have an older 1936 beach cottage that we are re doing. The exterior siding color is going to be a light pink with white trim. Can you suggest a roof color ? We are considering a metal roof, or shake shingle style. Thank you so much

I would suggest you keep the cinnamon brown with your green roof. In your natural setting, the natural tones are best and the cinnamon is perfect.

I think stain lasts longer than paint because you don’t get the peeling. Stain just fades over time. But your painter (or paint store) should advise you based on your area and whether your house is really exposed to the elements.

Help! We have a tudor style house with a light grey roof, not dark at all. The soffits and facia are a light grey as well. We were going to change our stucco paint color to a dark blue grey color, and the batton boards to match the soffits and facia. What do you think? There is no stone or other real influencing colors. Thanks for the help.

I like your paint choices. The only thing to consider is whether or not you want to highlight the batton boards. Occasionally you see them in a third color (if they’re decorative). If they’re not great to look at, then just keep them trim color.

I have a beautiful tudor style home with a wood shake roof that needs replacing. What do you think about replacing it with a metal roof? There is a lot of stone. Where there is wood, it is a moss green color. I have been looking on the web for photos of other tudor houses that may have changed to metal and have had no luck so far…..any thoughts?

Awww, I love a wood shake roof. But if you have to replace it, I understand. I’m not a huge fan of metal especially for historic homes like yours. Metal looks great in Colorado on those rustic mountainside homes, but I’m not so sure about yours. You might look into stone coat shingles that have the advantages of metal but look more like a conventional roof.

Hi
I just moved into a ranch-style house with a forest green metal roof. The siding is a mauve color and I am wanting to re-paint. Any suggestions on what color to repaint? The setting is in the country in Indiana and it is surrounded by trees. Thanks in advance!

Barbara,
I am about to replace my roof but am uncertain about what color it should be. The house is traditional colonial, ‘perriwinkle blue’ (blue-grey) siding, white window/door trims, burgundy front door and shutters. The current roof is dark grey. I could really use your advice – many thanks in advance!

I would stick with grey tones for your roof — I like the new variegated roof patterns with different shades of grey. I would avoid anything that has the burgundy in it (although there are gorgeous roofs out there with plenty of color) so you can change your door color at some point. Staying with the grey variegated will leave all your house color options open for the future.

I just put on a new roof after some hail damage. I selected a gray color. It is three dimensional shingle. You stated that a good house color for the fascia is gray, blue, white or yellow. I was going to use either a gray or blue. Does it matter if I use a light or dark gray or blue?

If the roof is a dark gray, you might choose a medium or light gray or blue for a little contrast. Choosing the fascia color at the same value as the roof color (light, medium, dark) will make the two colors blend regardless of whether the fascia is gray or blue.

We are starting construction on our new home.Don’t want to make any big mistakes on our exterior colors. We have designed a country tidewater home,overlooking a 2 acre pond. Our land,20 acres is not wooded. We have already started planting our trees,mixture of evergreen & flowering trees. We have decided on a natural tin roof. We are undecided on the exterior color. Two we have in mind are a mossy green siding or a very light yellow. I want so much to use a natural stain shutter,but brighten the home with white trim. Please help…Thank you so much

You didn’t mention your roof color, but on a tidewater home, the roof plays a huge roll. Make sure you consider the color as part of your equation. As for the green versus yellow, I think the mossy green would give you more contrast with the natural stain shutters. (The yellow and natural stain might blend a bit too much — yellow is better with black or a darker shutter).

Hello Gwen-
I got a tuff one for you… We have a tri-level house with a black roof and everything is pretty much dictated by that.
We got a sandstone colored garage door, which is in front of house and white fascia/soffit. The windows will be replaced with white exterior.

What I’d like to do is grayish/blue siding with brick molding a quarter of the way up the front of the house. But I worry that tan trim/tan garage and front door won’t match with the black roof and white soffits and fascia.

First of all, not to worry about the black roof. It will go with almost everything. The gray/blue siding sounds great, but since you’re introducing the brick which adds a third color, I would pick either the white or the tan for all the trim. White would probably be better. BUT, that doesn’t mean everything has to be white. I would paint your garage door the same as the house color and surround it with white trim. That will enlarge your house and make the garage go away. Depending on where your front door is (in relation to the brick), you might consider either a brick red or black door with white trim. That will warm up the entry area.

As for windows? White is best. I think that’s it. Oh, and use black as your metal (lights, etc.). That will tie in the roof color. You’re all set.

I really like that look, the green trim with the tan house (reminiscent of those natural cedar cottages in the Adirondacks with dark green trim — very natural). Anyway,
I think the green roof will be terrific. There is not much call for green roofs, but green trim is one of them. Sounds fine!

I have built a new house in betwwen the apple farm .
I wanna paint it , i am goin for purple coloure for the walls , n yellow for windows , will that be good , and what should be the roof colour , for this match , please advise as soon a possible – thanks

I would keep the roof a neutral — brown would be good — since the house color combination will make a bold statement. You could also reverse the colors, yellow walls with purple trim around the windows. I would still keep a brown roof.

I have white 8″ aluminum siding on my 50s style split. I recently installed a weathered wood (taupe/brown) roof and it looks bad. The only area I can try to marry these colores is with shutters and a door color. What do you suggest?

Hi Barbara,
Details:
small stucco house – built in 1929;
stucco is a warm creamy color – trim and eavestroughs are a hunter green with a cream color inner trim on windows and front door.
The present roof is grey.
What color would you suggest for roof shingles (Landmark brand) and what color should I paint the front door.

For a truly updated look, I suggest you paint your trim and eaves a more neutral color, perhaps Ben Moore’s Powell Buff, to make the house look bigger and provide less contrast between the stucco and trim. Then you can choose virtually any roof color, but I like the dark brown blends myself. Very warm. As for the door, you can go with a nice rich rusty red or a dark green. Again, almost anything will go with this nice neutral color scheme.

I have a pink flat tile roof and my home is currently light pink I desperatly want to change the color to a earthy or warm yellow tone. I would like to go with Bagel (Behr) for the base and Country Beige (Behr) for the trim. I am having difficulty selecting a color to match my roof. It is a small home and the biggest thing you can see on the house is the two car garage and the roof. Do you have any advice for me? Thank you. BTW great website!

I’m not sure just how pink your tile roof is, but it obviously was meant to go with the light pink siding. If you’re not planning to change the roof when you repaint the house (ideally, of course, it would be nice to spring a leak so you have to change the roof too — all problems solved) then you’ll have to incorporate some pink into your overall scheme so that the roof actually looks intentional and not just left over from the previous color scheme, which of course it will be. So make sure to plant lots of light pink flowers in pots out front. That may be all you need for awhile until that leak occurs.

Not trying to spend your money for you, but sometimes it just works out that way.

I have a bay window roof (kind of triangular in shape–small) that I would like to paint with a copper-colored metalic paint. (It isn’t copper, but looks like it should be!) Do you know of any apint that would work?

The only metallic-looking paint I’ve used has been for interiors. Obviously, you need something that will hold up to the weather. I would check out the Rustolium products and see if there’s a copper look-alike and also ask at your local paint store.

Thank you for your response regarding my pink roof and trying to find a color that goes with pink. If you don’t mind I would like to send you a picture of my house and get your opinion. I am not sure how to attach it to this site and I tried to email it to you but it was returned. Thanks so much for your assistance.

Thanks! I actually think the orange is very nice – especially in the gray and damp Seattle winter!

One more question… This is going to be a rental property. we’re planning to paint the front door, decks and putting up a new fence. With a new brown roof, existing white trim around the windows, what color(s) would look good on the doors, decks, and fence?

HI,
I have a shingle style Victorian with a faux slate grey/blue black roof. I am planning to use California paint’s Gable green on the shingle and Asian Jute on the stucco. I was considering Otis Madeira for the trim. I was wondering though if I should use a softer color for the trim since the body color is so sharp. I like other colors…Burnt Umber, Rawhide, Liberty…maybe even Tyson Taupe.
My house faces south east..so the sun sets behind it. I need colors that hold up in direct sunlight but are not to cool is shade. .My house is large and in a historical neighborhood.
Thanks for any advice
-Amy

Well, white comes to mind for the fence and deck railing. Then paint the deck floors brown. That way, the white will really set off the orange (just like white flowers in a garden of marigolds) and the brown will coordinate with the roof and ground the decks.

As for the front door, you can either stay conservative (white or brown) or pick a coordinating fun color like sunshine yellow or an orangey red. With an orange house, you might as well play it up, but I would stay on the warm side of the palette (versus blue).

Your house is a classic and it is painted that way. But I applaud your trying to do something a little different. I do like the dark Otis Madeira trim as there should be some contrast with the stucco but I’m not sure how the stucco and siding colors work together (it might be my computer screen).

Have you considered keeping the siding dark (even using Otis Madeira on the siding) to maintain the connection between the siding and the trim? In that case, the Asian Jute on the stucco would be fine.

Hi
The photo I sent shows what the house is currently painted. Which is Tudor brown on the shingles with the same color on the trim and a warm white on the stucco. . In reality, having the shingle color the same as the trim bisects the house horizontally too much in my opinion. The shingle color is the big question what to paint. I do like Otis Madeira on the shingles but I’m afraid of repeating the same look ..while subtle ..and elegant lacks contrast. The house get intense light..The green gable looks greener on the chip than it does on the actual shingle ..light condition ..but you can imagine that is a exactly not a soft look …Well thank you for your advice…I appreciate your thoughts.
Amy

Your house is characterized as a Tudor Revival and is often seen as the classic cream with tudor brown trim. In your house, the bottom shingled half is tudor brown instead of cream, and it bisects the house (although being such a large house, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing).
Using two similar colors (the darker or more vibrant on the bottom) would be fine. I would just make sure that the two colors have the same base (yellow vs. pink tones, etc.). That way they will go together without clashing. On my computer the Asian Jute looked a little pink to me although, as I said, that might be my monitor.

Just something to check on your end.

I’m sending you a photo of someone else’s interpretation of paint choices. Although it is a different style of house, it has some similar features (like the half-timbers), and the homeowners chose rich colors without a lot of contrast to give the house an updated look. See what you think.

Wow.. That is so interesting! My house has had brown or reddish brown on the shingles as long as anyone can remember.. I did not know cream shingles was a classic look associated with Tudor revival. I had imagined that the house started out a sand color of some sort on the stucco, trim stained dark ..and the shingles left to grey out. more like a shingle style.(Small difference I guess ..it’s just that I like knowing it)..It’s too bad I did not do a cedar shake roof when I had the chance..(.The photo I sent you actually has the old black roof) I will run by some color choices shortly..for your consideration..I am curious as to what might think…

Hi Barbara,
Hopefully you will be able to view these pictures. I would like to get your feedback on a color for my house that will match this pinkish roof. If helps any I live in South Florida and would like to paint my house a warm color or earth tone. I am open to ideas I just would like to stay away from pinks or cool colors. Thanks so much for your help.

Hi Barbara,
We are thinking about painting our front door. Currently we have a ranch style home, we just redid our roof with dimensional shingles which are called chateau green (its like a hunter green – dark green). Our windows were just dont also last year and they are drimmed with the same color geen, which matches our roof, and shutters, our front door is older but in good shape, i was thinking about painting it. Currently it is a baby blue color. And we are not certain about what color to paint it. Ive heard that people should paint it to make it stand out from the rest of the house, at least HGTV has said that on many occasions, but I have no idea what color to paint it? I have no sill at color decision and need some help being pointed int eh right direction. Thanks for you help :)

Your roof, at least on my screen, looks like terracotta. I suggest a rich warm camel, a medium tone that gets away from all the pastels that I’m sure your neighbors have. Nothing wrong with them, mind you, but your roof looks like it might support some deeper color. I also might paint that stripe along the base of your windows a shade or two either lighter or darker than the house color. Not the same as the white trim as it is now. I think it’s a little distracting.

Two ideas come to mind. One is to paint your door a medium brown to approximate a solid wood door, which would be ideal for your house. The other is to go with a rusty red color that would compliment the green and draw attention to your front door. And yes, it’s good to highlight the front entryway so that people know where to ring the doorbell.

Thank you so much for your feedback. You’re right most of my nieghbors have pastels but are now moving towards warmer colors. I love the idea of a camel or deeper color. If you don’t mind I have a few more questions. You mentioned about the stripe under the window it’s actually two stripes.

What color do you suggest for the stripes, the trim, trim around windows and the garage doors? I hate the fact that the front of my house is mostly the garage. Also would you mind giving me two options for the bases and trims? I notice on your site you seem to like benjamin moore? Any specific color for me?

Unfortunalty, my community also has a board that dictates color schemes and I will have to provide them with two options. I realize I am asking for a lot but I have reviewed your site and just love the ideas you come up with and I am totaly lost. . I hope you don’t mind but I am sending you one more picture that’s a close up of my roof. A million thanks I will share the results with you once it’s completed.

Check out the color Colorado Clay (Ben Moore’s AC-15) as it’s a soft brown with a pink undertone and it might be just right for your accent color (the stripe). If that’s too pink or doesn’t go with the roof (impossible to tell exactly on my screen), then look at nugget (AC-9). Again I would stick with the medium for the house and a slightly darker stripe.

For the base color, look at Butte rock (AC-8) or Brookline beige (HC-47). With your roof being so pink, the yellow tones in the camel won’t go. Unless you plan to reroof at some point, I would stick with taupey tans and browns that have a pink base. (You probably didn’t want to hear that as you said no pink.)

As for the trim, I would stick with a crisp white because you are in sunny, hot Florida where the colors will look much clearer next to refreshing white. But I would paint the garage doors the house color since they’re so prominent.

See what you think of these colors. The overall look should be soft and sandy with kind of a southwest feel.

I just purchased a lakefront contemporary-ish two story home that with a grey/black roof and greyish-blue painted cedar siding and white trim (presently bright white). We are trying to move the design slightly towards a Craftsman/cedar shingle look. I am not a fan of cooler exterior colors and instead would love to re-paint the home with warmer colors in the tan range. However, I am torn because keeping in mind what you recommend for my gray-black roof color (stay with the grays and blues!). Is it possible as a compromise and use a tan-gray blend: e.g., a taupe (our painter uses Sherwin Williams, so like SW Bunglehouse Gray), with alabaster (white with pinch of ivory) trim? The house has an attached three car garage – could we paint the doors a darker version of the main color? Also, what about our idea to paint the door a red-ish (brick?) color to make it pop out from all these neutrals? Thanks so much for sharing your talent and time!

The Bunglehouse Gray looks like a nice gray green, but it would be terrific on your house. And I like the Alabaster with it.

Colonial Revival Stone looks a little more taupe but still with a green undertone. That will work also.

Don’t worry about the roof too much. It’s very neutral and will go with almost any earth tone but will look especially nice with grayed-down shades that will coordinate with the roof.

As for the door, brick red would look sharp, especially since the door is in a little alcove. Personally, I like the sidelights to be trim color, reserving the red for just the door. But obviously, you can do the whole unit if you wish.

I love the rich colors in the photo you sent. On my house at one point I sampled beetroot on the shingle, ginger root on the stucco and dark brown for the trim. That is when I realized I had a big problem with the roof color. It is a charcoal gray .. It was really distracting from the houses’ paint scheme. .The roof almost has its own variegated pattern. It’s supposed to be neutral and simulate the slate look.
I want to try ..Otis Madeira again on the shingles pairing it with a cinnamon brown of some sort, for the stucco and brown for the trim..just to see how it looks..
Also..I noticed a Cal. paint colorway ..called robust red ..it was pared with a color called birch white(yellowy white) and another color called floral white. I am going to sample the red , the birch white with mission brown. I don’t know if Cal. paints has a brown like ebony(.I’m sure they must)..I would try that too. with a couple other reds too that I noticed on a paint card. The colors are called …Dark ruby..Garnet Evening…and Burnt Crimson…these might look better with my roof. Maybe these colors have more violet I’ve noticed on several of these paint chip…they are marked as accent(Ac) colors or (Dea) color. I am a little leary of this. I don’t know what the abbreviations signify. I don’t want to paint my house an accent color that is too bright. A few of these dark reds have low hide in abreviation as well. Does that mean that they don’t show scuff marks or brush mark..? Also there are a few great.berry red browns too.. I like spiced berry …cherry cola etc.. May be I can match these with a cream ivory and the ebony brown.. I am stopping short of putting black on the trim …, lead black and edge of black. I like these colors but I am afraid of looking too outlined. I am also afraid that a charcoal trim color will ultimately have to be paired with a whiter color on the stucco ..and this seems to be really opposite of what I wanted in the first place.
Oh boy what to do….
-Amy(51)

I have a terra cotta roof (California) which is more orange
than red. orange is not my favorite color. It is a two story
home. It has shutters and front door that is painted.
The houses were originally painted with pastels. I recently
tried painting my shutters with a deep brick red. Garage
door is white and the trim on the house is white. The stucco
is a taupe color. There is white trim around the front window
as well. I’ve had the shutters and front door a forest green
which wasn’t bad. Can you give me some suggestions of
color schemes that work with an orangie terra cotta roof?
I have a brick walk way and front porch and enjoy the
brick feeling, but the color is very hard for me to know what
to paint. I love the greys and blacks but don’t think it will work
with my roof. I’m thinking of going darker with the stucco
(camel maybe) and lighter with the trim. What color door and
shutters would use suggest? would you have any white?
I appreciate any suggestions you can give me.
Linda

My sincere thanks for your time and attention to detail. I checked out the colors and it totally makes sense. I can’t wait to start painting. One last question I just learned that the wonderful association will only allow two colors. So I am thinking of submitting everything minus the white for the trims. Please let me know if you think otherwise. I love both choices and will go with whichever one they approve. Thanks again!!!!!

Thanks so much for some great advice (referencing original post #66 above). I’m gonna go for it! I’ll try both sample taupes first to choose, but the rest is set. What a relief! One more (big?) issue, please: Would you add any architectual details to the exterior of the house to dress it up or add character? It has no shutters, for one thing. Maybe it doesn’t need? Would painting the corner trimming the main color (taupe) improve it (but keeping the windows and door frames in the Alabaster with the brick red door)? I do like the house but the exterior is a bit cold, modern and plain to me? The interior is being redone: SW Macadamia painted walls, oil rubbed fixtures, dark oak floors and doors, lots of high Alabaster panel wainscoting and beadboard, stack stone fireplace, built-ins, with silver-blue master with white marble bath and hexagonal floor tiles. I know, the outside doesn’t match this design theme at all! For some reason, the interior was much easier for me to figure out than this exterior. Again, thanks a million for your time and thoughts! Elizabeth

On rereading my comment(#69) In the beginning section, I meant to say I painted my shingles dk. rookwood red,, stucco ginger root etc…I mistakenly said I painted them .. beet root, ginger root on the stucco etc..
Sorry for the confusion..but since this is a blog about color..it makes a big difference when you visualize the combinations. I think my grey roof really is more apparent too on my garage where I have steep pitched roof line. I am coming to the conclusion that the blue grey roof has to tie in better with my shingle color ..and that the stucco color has to be thought out better too.

I haven’t seen your house, but the classic stucco home with terra cotta roof tends to have dark brown trim and a dark brown (or solid wood, ideally) door. The garage doors are dark brown too. Then the stucco is anything from cream to camel to golden yellow. I like tradition when it comes to certain styles of homes but branching out on a new color scheme can be an adventure.

If you’re a traditionalist and just want a very pleasing color combination, check out the brown trim idea.

I forgot to mention in the above reply that you should consider taking off the shutters. No particular need, stylewise, to have shutters on your home. Eliminating them will certainly save you the trouble of choosing a color. Something to be said for that…

I know you have colors that you envision your house in and the roof is just getting in the way of that. Why not try a different approach and check out a grey blue for the shingles and maybe a light gray for the stucco with navy blue trim and dark rich red accents like doors and maybe trim around windows. You might be shocked at how good it will look and even though you might not choose blues or grays on their own, with the roof color, the whole look can be pulled together.

It sounds like you’re going through tons of sample paint cans. My thought is to settle on the overall color combo, including the roof color, just on paper first (or computer screen). Then you can head back to the paint store.

Don’t hesitate to ask the California Paint experts there at the store about the different designations on the paint colors. I would rather you talk directly with them about those specifics.

I think I deleted your house photo from my mailbox as it was overflowing. And I cannot remember what style windows you have, but if they’re double-hung, then shutters will be perfect. If the windows are casement, then you really don’t need them.

But one thing you can do is research the Cottage Style of house which tends to have shingles, operable shutters, arbors and trellises, natural paint colors or natural cedar, and big porches with some colonial details. I think that’s kind of what you’re looking for.

I would be happy to give more specific ideas if you send your photo to me again.

I re-sent one pic of front and one of back of my house. I think you’re so right about cottage style, but is there a way to achieve more of such a look with this house without adding the expensive front porch or shingles? I kind of blew the wad on the purchase and interior, so am going to wait on that (tho would love it!). I am re-doing landscaping, exterior paint, light fixtures. I have a feeling a nice paint job and some nice light fixtures and ornamental trees and plantings will be great, but if there are any other details you can think of, I’d love to hear. I love the idea of a trellis – placement where would you suggest? Thanks once again! Elizabeth

Thanks for sending the photos again. Just a couple more thought. I can’t tell if the front step is wood or concrete. But a wood “deck” for the front door landing would match the back deck and add to the cottagey feel.

Also everywhere there’s free wall space, both front and back (I have a cottage on Lake Ontario and we always refer to the water side as the front so I may get confused with the terms). Anyway, wherever there’s a free wall space, I would put a LARGE pot with flowers in it. Not too little as your house is big and little pots will get lost. Stand way back and look at your house before choosing the pot sizes. Think BIG.

You might add a trellis to the deck on the “front” for some shade. If it’s wide enough for chairs, etc.

The rest is just colorful and varied landscaping. The more the merrier. What you’re trying to do is make the house look like it’s been there for generations. Just like the old Victorian “cottages.” The paint job will do a lot to warm up the house.

Thanks for sending the photos again. Just a couple more thought. I can’t tell if the front step is wood or concrete. But a wood “deck” for the front door landing would match the back deck and add to the cottagey feel.

Also everywhere there’s free wall space, both front and back (I have a cottage on Lake Ontario and we always refer to the water side as the front so I may get confused with the terms). Anyway, wherever there’s a free wall space, I would put a LARGE pot with flowers in it. Not too little as your house is big and little pots will get lost. Stand way back and look at your house before choosing the pot sizes. Think BIG.

You might add a trellis to the deck on the “front” for some shade. If it’s wide enough for chairs, etc.

The rest is just colorful and varied landscaping. The more the merrier. What you’re trying to do is make the house look like it’s been there for generations. Just like the old Victorian “cottages.” The paint job will do a lot to warm up the house.

Just wanted to say thanks again for your comments – will definitely try them out… and also, to tell you we are not far from each other – I’m on Mullett Lake in Northern Michigan! Enjoy your cottage this summer!

Barbara: I was so excited to find this site and hope you can help. Our painters will be here in a week or so. 1923 stucco house, reddish/orangey roof shingles. English cottage/colonial style in NJ. I really want to do white trim, but am stuck as to the best color for the stucco – I am emailing a picture of the house front and side to show you what we are trying out. Thanks!!!

I don’t think I received your photo, but let’s try anyway. How about a natural taupe for the stucco. Terrific with the roof and very crisp with white trim. A neutral tan/taupe for the house will allow you to bring color in with your English cottage garden in the front yard.

First of all, I would like to thank you for having this helpful blog! It was very hard trying to an informative site regarding roof colors.
We have a 1960’s bungalow style (I believe?). The exterior walls are stucco and the front lower brick wall (which is actually a planter wall but hasn’t been filled in yet)is an orange terracotta color.
We had our roof replaced in emerald green about 8 years ago and I painted the trims and front door to match the roof. The windows and gutters are white. Originally at the time we were going to paint the stucco white. My husband wants the classic look while I’d like the modern colors particular the warm tones.
Now I’m trying to decide to whether to repaint the trim & door in a different color. I’m looking at a light tan color (brown tone) for the stucco and a dark brown(red tone) for the trim and an accent color (burgandy or red?) for our front door. In the very near future we’d like to replace our front windows and I’m wondering should we add shutters as well?
I welcome any suggestions you may have.

I like your idea of painting the stucco a warm creamy tan but I would go just slightly darker for the trim and garage door. That way the house will look bigger and not chopped up by the sharply contrasting colors of house and trim.

As for shutters, the roof and brick look like they have some olivey green in them so I would consider a dark olive for your shutters. The color will tie in with the roof and contrast nicely with the brick. The front door can be a brick color — that will warm it up since it’s under an overhang.

Thanks Barbara for your response.
I asked my husband about the color of our roof and it’s actually called ‘Forest Green’. I should have thought about the lighting of the day when I took the picture so it appears to be more olive when it’s actually not.
In terms of a creamy colors, I’m looking at Beauti-tone ‘Sandy Footprints’ or General Paint ‘Crisp Khaki’ or ‘Sienna Sand’. I had a closer look at my brick wall and thought they were all the same color but there are three different colors! Amazing what a different perspective can do. I’ve attached a picture of the brick wall to see if that will help when choosing the stucco wall color.
Thanks again for your helpful suggestions.

It’s not the brick that is the limiting factor in determining your color palette. It’s really the roof color. It’s quite green. So I suggest a putty color for the stucco, something like Ben Moore’s putnam ivory (HC-39) and then paint your siding and trim a softer green, something like lehigh green (HC-131) if your roof is really quite a bright green or kennebunkport green (HC-123) if it’s got a little olive in it. Just about anything will go with your brick. But the warmer stucco will really enhance your curb appeal. Hope you like the idea.

I wanted to update you as well as to thank you for your advice. Looking over my house sketches I decided I liked green best on the shingles . So I convinced my husband to go along with me on that color. We are going to paint the shingles a moss green and the trim a soft blackish green . Now all I have to decide on is what shade of white for the stucco. I am finally though, happy with the color choices.!

We are replacing siding with hardi plank on our English tudor revival home. The tile roof appears to be terra cotta from a distance. However, when a broken piece fell down, we were surprised to see some burgundy and gray in it. The brick is 4 different colors: light tan, white tan-taupe, dark tan (which up close has more red in than any of the other brick), light yellowish tan with the first color being predominant. The bottom front and sides are brick on most of the house, except for the tallest part which is stucco with 3 narrow windows on the first and second floor with brick on either side of the windows. We would love to experiment with the stucco and the decorative wood trim colors. The stucco has always been cream with the wood, (now hardi plank) sides, the front door, and the detached garage being dark brown. The house is 25 years old. Thank you for any suggestions. By the way, the gird work in the windows is white and cannot be changed.

Hi Barbara,
We live in a 25 year old cottage with cedar siding, and some stucco. We will be replacing the roof this summer, and have chosen metal for the material. Now, the decisions come. We would like the metal to be a lighter shade, as is recommended for our climate in northern Ontario Canada. We’d like to use “patina green”. Would that be a good choice for with the cedar? We’d also like a colour choice for the trim, garage doors and front door. As well, the stucco is a dirty off white that we’d love to paint. Is this recommended? Can you recommend a method that will be most durable? And what colour should it be?
We like bright, unique colours on houses, especially since this is cottage country! We are on the side of a hill, overlooking the Ottawa river, and the Gatineau hills beyond.
I’ll send a picture of the house to your email addy.
Thanks for your help!
Leann

Before I give you another idea, more along the lines of what you’ve asked for, let me just suggest that the traditional cedar-shingled cottage with dark green roof and dark green trim is a classic, especially in your picturesque area of Canada with both river and hills. The color combination melts into the countryside and it feels very at home. In that case the stucco would be painted to match the cedar siding.

If that doesn’t grab you, I’d be happy to wait for a photo and I will offer some suggestions that might be a better fit for your particular cottage.

And the “patina green” roofing isn’t a dark green, it’s what you might call a ‘creamy green’. Picture forest green mixed with white paint, and that’ll give you an idea.

I like your idea about the stucco colour. But what about garage doors, house doors, and window frames? I have an artist’s colour wheel, and it says the complementary colour would be a medium violet purple! I don’t know if I’m quite that courageous!

Would you still suggest the dark green for the trim? Or would that be too much of a shock on the double garage doors?

I suggest you leave the trim white, which will really set off the green of the roof and bridge the two colors (siding and roof). Then paint the stucco the cedar color to make it look like cottage and then paint the garage doors and front door a complementary color. You could pick a dusty purple (really nice with the green). Not too bright but a nice soft iris shade. Or you could go with a raspberry which would be very refreshing.

As for painting the stucco, just talk with your local paint store experts and they’ll advise you on the method and type of paint necessary. But I would keep it neutral.

I don’t usually advise highlighting the garage doors but since it’s a fun cottage, why not.

The other option is for you to stay completely neutral using your stonework as a palette. Gray roof and gray-green doors (much more rustic and not nearly as exciting as the other idea).

Hi Barbara,
I am hoping you can help me out with this. I’ve recently bought a house built in the late 1950s. It currently has a Stone base and Stucco and a maroon/red painted wood siding. The garage door and window trim is the same maroon and the trim to the breezeway is white. Also, the roof is greyish white. We are looking to update it, do you have any ideas for trim given the stone/stucco/and grey roof combination. I was thinking about a green but am open to any suggestions you might have. I’ve included a picture.

Thank you SO much for helping us with this! I think we’ll go for a lively colour for our garage and house doors, but leave the remaining trim white. As for the stucco, I like the idea of painting it in a cedar colour. So here goes for a summer full of paint fumes!!

I would pick a color out of the stone/stucco for the trim. I could be anything from a cream to a light grey to a very light sage. But I would keep it in the stone and as neutral as possible since you already have a lot of color on your house.

Hi,
After reading this I am thinking that we have worked the wrong way around and possibly made the wrong exterior paint choices.
Our 1960’s style semi-ranch (has bottom tier with garage door) style house has white siding and red brick cladding on the front including the retaining wall. When we got it, it had beige window/door trim, which we didn’t like. We re-painted the white parts white. When trying to choose the trim color we looked at houses in our area, black looked best, but there was a similar style house close by, that is a bit grander, so didn’t want to compete. We chose a bold darker red color, called vermillion. We did the window frames, front door and garage door this color, with inner window frames white and outer door frames white. I’m now not sure if this was the right choice. We are looking at replacing the roof and I am wondering what color to choose. We have chocolate brown wooden (deck style) front steps, and replaced the front light with a black iron one. Do you think a black roof would work if we added more black touches. For instance we removed the wood panels on either side of the door, so we could add black iron accents or something.

Not to worry. White houses have a lot more latitude when it comes to roof colors and even trim. As long as the red color you chose goes well with the brick, you’re fine. And I love the idea of black accents and a black roof. Very dramatic!

I have a 1930’s tudor style house with a green shingle roof and an having a very difficult time trying to find a color. I do not love the green roof, but it will not be changed for a while. I am considering painting the house tan (with grey undertones) and white trim. Can you advise if you think that this is a good color choice.
Thanks
Juliana

Great site here! I found your site while browsing for metal roof colors . Anyhow I have a home I inherited recently and I’m currently working on a deck project and roof project. Within the next couple of days I need to deside on the metal roof color to order. I’m leaning towards a hawaiian blue for the roof and I will be re-siding the home as well. The re-siding color I’m thinking on will be a light tan color . I’m hoping this will look good together. Any Ideas?

we are building a new house and my husband loves the copper roof. but what colors go with copper? we have to pick the siding soon and dont know where to start. we live in a small mt. town in colorado so we wanted something different then the green roof. please help!
thanks
christina

Hi Barbara,
My 1972 ranch house In hot Lawrenceville Georgia needs a new roof. I have just had my house painted with a Porter Paint Banana Pudding, and Hummingbird Green shutters, and the chimney and stairs faced with Tennessee flagstone. I felt that my home of 19 years lacked architectural interest, so decided to add the stone for a “storybook” feeling. I love gardening and puttering around my yard. With prices of shingles going up almost daily, I feel it is necessary to move quickly to decide on the color for my new roof, and start as soon as possible. I would like a 30 year dimensional shingle, and am thinking of using a dark grey. Will it make my house hotter? Please let me know your opinions, asap. I loved reading the postings. Thank you. I am emailing 3 photos, with Lawrenceville in their titles.
Thanks for your advice.

I’m so glad that you do this! I sent you a photo with our yellow-tannish brick house and brown roof. It may not look like it so much in the photo, but the house looks VERY dated and 70’s. Any ideas on what color paint would make our house look more modern? Thanks in advance!

Hi there!
I stumbled across your site in an attempt to find a place I could get advice for our house colors.

We have a solid red brick (1967) traditional ranch style home. We are replacing our front porch with a gable-style porch and back carport area. The back carport will be white, the replaced windows are white with white trim. We considered using a slate gray shingle with red specks, but, after reading your site, I am unsure about that. I need to figure out the face of the gable (thinking vinyl siding?), surface of cement porch, door, and shutter colors. At the present, the shutters and front door are white, as well as the eaves, etc. Do you have suggestions? We are looking to update the exterior, which is why we are changing the porch design.
Thanks!
Sherrie

I NEED HELP FAST! WE ARE LIVING IN A MOBILE HOME AND ARE BUILDING AN ADDITION WHICH WILL LATER BE PART OF MY HOUSE. IT IS IN A WOODED SETTING. WE ARE BUILDING A PLAIN WOOD STAINED BARN ABOUT 500 FT DOWN IN AN OPEN FIELD. I WOULD LOVE TO PUT A BARN RED METAL ROOF ON MY BARN
BUT CAN’T IMAGINE A RED METAL ROOF ON MY HOUSE. I DON’T EVEN KNOW IF MY HOUSE WILL BE WOOD OR SIDING. DO YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS? SHOULD I STAY AWAY FROM THE RED METAL AND TRY TO MATCH THE ROOFS? AM I RIGHT IN THINKING THAT IF I KEEP A SHINGLE ROOF ON MY HOUSE, THE METAL ROOF COLOR ON MY BARN CAN BE ANY COLOR. ALSO, WOULD HUNTER GREEN BE A SAFER COLOR FOR THE BARN SO THAT I COULD MATCH ROOFS?

Could you please help me??? I’m going crazy trying to find the right color for my house. I have a light grey, almost white roof and I want to pick a color that would look good with the roof! Also the gutters are white and I really don’t want to do anything to them. Here are my current colors:

We are debating color choices for our Tudor style house. The house has half timbers and stucco for the entryway and half the house and the rest is cedar shingles. The roof is a light green.

Currently the stucco is tanish, the trim and timbers are white, and the cedar is natural.

We are considering matching the stucco and shingle colors by painting or staining the shingles and finding a color to match for the stucco. We’re thinking a mocha color, perhaps with dark brown trim and timbers. Would this look good with a light green roof?

Are we better off staining the cedar shingles or painting?

We are in Seattle, so some of your comments about brown siding and green roofs in natural locations might not apply as much.

We have a 1974 bungalow in terra cotta-ish coloured brick. It has light taupy trim on windows, downspouts. Garage is painted Benjamin Moore HC-95 (Sag Harbour Gray–very close to trim colour). We are replacing our roof ASAP. Right now it is brown– I find it a little boring as eaves troughing is also brown( I know should be same as trim but cannot replace it right now). We are thinking driftwood or havard slate??? Also, would like suggestions for front door colour-sort of recessed). Currently, HC-133 (yorktowne green).

Hi Barbara (again)
Just wanted to add that our brick may be more orangeish (dark buff??). I saw terra cotta coloured brick on a website and it looked more reddish then ours. Also, considering “weathered wood” as a colour for the roof shingles. Roofer coming tomorrow with some samples. Could you reply ASAP??
Thanks so much!!!
Jane

Sorry for the long delay. Undoubtedly by now you have chosen your roof color. But I think the Hawaiian blue will look sharp with the tan siding. Metal roofs make a huge design statement so you have to be prepared to live with the color you choose. As long as you love blue, it will be fine.

I like the Country Gray because it has a mixture of grays and browns in it. I wouldn’t go full gray as you have so much brown and not any gray in the rest of the house. The other color I actually like is green (whichever of the two greens goes better with your shutters). You don’t see a lot of green roofs but with your “storybook” feel and your gorgeous chimney, the green really sets them off nicely.

If you paint the trim along the fascia and especially around the really nice wooden front door a cream or a soft warm gray, the wood door will really pop out and the house will lighten up. I also suggest hiding the hose container around the corner and behind the bushes and replacing it with a couple of large colorful pots filled with greenery, one pot on each side of the entryway. You have lots of spring tulips but you might also consider planting some larger shrubs on the right side to balance the large tree on the left. A barberry would be great as it too is dark burgundy.

If you get really ambitious, you might consider staining or painting your front steps a darker warmer color as right now the door appears to be floating. Not a major deal, however.

I would make the gable white to go with the carport in the back. Vinyl siding is fine. For your cement porch, you can stain that any neutral color, but the grout color might be nice. As for shutters, I would coordinate them with the roof color. If you go with a dark slate gray (that’s fine), then do black shutters. You could also do green. If you go with more of a brown neutral roof color, then you could have dark chocolate shutters. Your brick with white trim leaves you lots of options. All good ones.

You can put any color metal roof on your barn and I would not try to match the roof with your home’s roof. It’s fine if they’re completely different. What will really stand out is your barn and it sounds like it’s going to look great!

We have a stucco-and-stone storybook English Cottage. The roof is steeply pitched, so you see a lot of it. It is done in Certainteed’s Weathered Wood, which reads as variegated shades of taupe and medium browns.

The stucco color that best coordinates with the stone seems to be Benjamin Moore’s Bleeker Beige.

We need to decide a color for the windows and other wood trim. I feel tone-on-tone would make the house look bigger.
So would a darker tone of Bleeker Beige look ok, or too blah?

The other choice is to pick a dark shade that best matches the roof and eavestroughs. That might make the original leaded glass windows “pop”, but I’m afraid it would also
jar the eye too much and make the house look smaller.

Have you looked at the taupey greys like Ben Moore’s mt. rushmore rock (AC-39) which would be darker and warmer than your roof but should coordinate well with it and allow you to keep your white trim and gutters. Choosing a medium tone for your siding will focus a little less attention on the roof color (versus the sharp contrast of light roof with dark siding) and focus a little more attention on the other features of your home, like the brick.

I suggest painting the half timbers and trim either a dark brown (traditional) or a dark green (to coordinate with the roof color) and seeing how that looks with the natural cedar and tan stucco. You might want to bump up the stucco color to more of a camel color for some richness, but I really like that look.

I wouldn’t go too dark with the siding colors but for trim, that’s okay.

Hello Barbara,
We just bought a house and we can’t decide what color paint the exterior of it. Our problem is the roof, it is asphalt shingles and it this very light gray almost white that doesn’t seem to go well with any color. The style is a gambrel house so you know most of it is the roof. Please suggest us what colors would enhance the style of the house and make it updated as well. Thank you so much
Paola & Pete

I like the Driftwood roof with the green undertones (the slate is a little too gray). As for the door, why not warm it up a bit with a darker version of your brick. Since you have the gray green trim already, a Georgian Brick (HC-50) might really look nice in that slightly recessed area.

Since you have such a classic style home, I would stay classic with the trim color and go with a brown that coordinates with your roof. Although it might make the house look a tad smaller, it’s worth it to accentuate the styling and the windows. Using a more monochromatic color scheme (a darker version of bleeker beige) would sacrifice the English character for size. English cottages are cottages and it’s okay if they look that way.

You might consider a darker gray for your house. Since the roof is so prominent and light, blending it in to the siding with a darker richer version of the roof color will make the whole house look bigger and will call less attention to the roof itself.

Then you can add color with beautiful flowering trees and shrubs either in the pinks or the yellows. And don’t forget potted annuals for a pop of color against the gray.

Hi Barbara – We are renovating an old house (1800s) that has a red standing seam metal roof. We have torn off vinyl siding and are replacing it with German lap wood widing on the original house (historic district requirements) and hardiplank on the additions. I have no idea what color to paint the house and wonder what you think.
Thanks,
Diane

Enclose a photo if you can and include your neighbors’ homes as you’re in a historic district. Many of the paint companies have palettes of historic house colors and I would definitely choose something from there, if you don’t go with white (also an option). One thing is certain. If you’re planning on shutters, make them black. Otherwise, for siding color with a red roof, you can do anything from a dark historic blue to a dark olive green.

Hi Barbara, thanks for getting back to me so quickly. We live on a rather eclectic street in the historic district of Leesburg, VA. On either side of us are brick homes from the 40s and 50s. Directly across the street is a similar home that is a lemony yellow with a green roof. Most of the homes on the street are white. We’d like to do something more interesting than white. We are liberating the front porch (which had been enclosed) and the porch will be bluestone. We are not replacing shutters.

I am enclosing a before pix, so you can see the roof, and where we are now. It’s a shotgun house, so it is narrow and goes far back.

Here are three completely different looks. They all depend on your actual roof and shutter colors and how bold you want to get. There’s ALWAYS basic tan/taupe that would look perfectly fine. But have a look at Ben Moore’s Knoxville gray (HC-160), Cushing green (HC-125), and Roxbury caramel (HC-42). With a roof like yours, you are going to make a serious statement. It all depends on how far you want to go with it.

I was so excited to happen upon this website, as we need some color advice for a 1960s ranch that we just bought. The roof is a light gray color, and the house is currently painted a gray-blue color. I love warmer colors, and was hoping to repaint it using any combination of white/cream, green and/or yellow. I was debating doing the lighter color on the house and the trim in a darker color, or vice versa.

I suggest a gray green, something like Sherwin Williams Willow Tree (SW7741) to coordinate with your roof. Other greens will work as well, but I would avoid yellow except in your plantings. And stick with white trim, again to coordinate with the gray in your roof. Cream just won’t work.

I am trying to find an exterior stain color for my cedar shake house. Currently, it is a blue/gray (looks more blue to me) with white trim and red brick foundation/fireplace. The roof is a brown/gray. My windows are a metal and I’m thinking would be too much to change/paint. So, what stain color would you suggest in terms of color in keeping with white trim/windows. I love medium earthy colors…grays/browns (not blue). Thanks in advance!

I’ve been looking for hours for info on how to choose a roof color and your blog has been so helpful. We have a classic brown ranch that I would like to paint a dark rustic red. We will be roofing it before painting the house. I can’t figure out what color would look good on a dark rustic red ranch home. Any thoughts? Or sample photos you can recommend?

You can certainly do a charcoal roof (very conventional) but you might consider a warm dark brown (not so conventional). Either one will look fine with the rustic red. Just avoid anything too light that will make your house look roofless (so to speak). Heather blend or weathered wood might be nice. (both Googleable)

Stick with the white trim since your windows are white. Then have a look at the medium taupes (like Ben Moore’s quincy tan HC-25) or a nice gray green like bennington gray (HC-82). Any of the taupes/tans/gray greens will look very nice with the white trim and the brick.

Hi Barbara – I wanted to let you know that your advice was dead on, and we have decided on Knoxville Gray. I would never have thought of it without your input, so THANK YOU!! I will send you pix when it is painted.
Thank you for this fabulous site.
Diane

Hi Barbara,
What a great site. Hopefully you can give me some suggestions for exterior paint colors. We have a two-story colonial. We recently installed a new green/black varigated roof. Currently the siding is beige with white trim. I’d really like to try something different. Maybe something in the taupe family. I would like to avoid the white trim for the guttering and downspouts since they always seem to look dingy after awhile. My neighbors have beige, gray and white homes and I’d really like something different. That’s why we chose the green roof.

I love the Willow Green suggestion, thank you! I think fresh white trim and some new white shutters will also brighten up the front of the house.

I’ve heard the recommendation to have a third color to accent certain elements of the home exterior, such as the door, mailbox, etc. I went on sherwin williams’ website, and found many of the complementary colors they suggest are an “orangy” red. Would you recommend the same?

i was wondering if you can help me, we are putting on a hickory color roof, my siding is light tan and i am trying to think of a color for my shutters, i currenlt have brown and do not like that color at all. My door color is mustard and i do not want to paint that, i am trying to work around the siding & door, we are also putting on a new porch, what color do you suggest for the colums, i do not want to paint the same color of the siding, would white be ok? Our home is a country style. thanks

You didn’t mention your trim color or what kind of windows you have, but if they’re indeed white, then you can certainly paint the front columns white. As for the shutters, with your color scheme, I would stick with a neutral that will coordinate with the roof. I know you don’t like brown, but if you painted the shutters the same shade as your roof (or a shade or two lighter), the shutters/roof will coordinate and lead the eye directly to your front door focal point. Just don’t paint the shutters the same as the front door. That will be too much. Best left to the front door only.

barbara – thans for the reply – my trim is brown and i am painting it the same color as the siding or a white, haven’t decided yet. I know what you mean about the same color as the door, tried that last yr…awful. i was thinking a light blue or green. what do you think?

My concern is introducing another color into your palette when you have such a strong color on the front door. Introducing another color on the shutters might detract from the front door. But if you really don’t want a neutral, you could try a really dark earthy green for the shutters. That would work fine. I would avoid any light colors since your house is tan and they’ll just get lost. You need some contrast.

For your shutters, a neutral would be in the same family as either your roof or your house or that dark earthy green I mentioned before. You just don’t want to call too much attention to your shutters at the expense of your front entry.

Hi,
We have a tiny cabin that is built in the woods (surrounded by 100+ year old trees). Our roof is red metal (not a vibrant color)… leaning towards a rust. We are planning on painting this summer. The roof is a steep A frame. Our gutters are white and our windows are white. We don’t have shutters. What color would you recommend painting. I’m interested in either a nice medium grey, or a medium brown. I think green would work well too, but I don’t want it to look like a christmas tree. We plan to paint next month.

I am buying a tri-level in the country — big open grass. It needs style. Right now it has an extremely light gray roof, white aluminum siding, light beige brick at the bottom and china blue shutters. Porch is an unclad concrete.

The roof is in excellent shape and an energy saver here in the south, but the overall effect is bland, bland, bland. I would like something more earthy, but the gray seems to be a problen. Any ideas?

I’m having a red roof put on this week: CertainTeed’s Grand Manor in Georgian Brick. The roof will have lots of shadow lines, and the shingles have a lot of black granules mixed in with the red.

I want to paint the house siding in a soft white. Should I look for grey undertones or yellow undertones or beige undertones in the white paint chips? Or no undertones at all? I live in a wooded area in the Northeast, if that makes any difference.

Thanks Barbara. We’re starting to work on it this weekend. I plan to test a few colors. What do you think about a butter yellow on my house (red roof and white trim)? Do you know of a specific brand and color of butter yellow that isn’t too loud, but has personality?
Gail

I would add a little richness to the color scheme by painting your blue shutters a richer taupe or another richer neutral, which will bridge the color gap between the gray roof and the beige brick and make the neutrals appear intentional. You can stain your concrete if you’d like a warmer porch area. Then work on the front door to add pizzazz. Something appropriate to your area, but something with some zip. It might even be a version of the China blue if you like that. The focus will be on the front door instead of the shutters.

Make sure you add a lot of color in your landscape and you should be fine.

For some reason (on my end, no doubt), I did not receive all your photos and links, but I can tell you thatI love the Bleeker beige with the Weathered wood roof color. And I still would go with dark wood trim and a solid (mahogany stained) wood door for your English cottage. But I would love to see a photo… Possible to send again??

I lucked out and just stumbled across your website in a desperate search on how to pick house colors. Your ideas sound great so I hope you can help me. My husband and I are building a strawbale house that will have a stucco exterior that I plan to finish with built up coats of lime wash in either a buttery pale yellow or a sagey green and natural cedar shakes in the gable ends. We have our hearts set on a silver corrugated metal roof but I can’t decide what color the windows should be and I have to decide soon. They are metal clad Jeld-Wen windows and I was thinking of black but I’m not sure how that will look with the silver roof. Jeld Wen offers silver windows but I don’t like them. Should we pick a different roof color?

I think the black windows will be fine with the silver roof (if you want more of a European look, but white would work also). I wouldn’t change the roof color if you really love it. Black will give you a lot of contrast between the windows and the siding color; white will blend in with your pastel washes. If you want to accent the windows, then go with black, but if you’re worried about too much focus on your windows, then go with white. Dark bronze is another window option and would coordinate well with your natural cedar shakes. Again, it’s kind of a European cottage look.

Received your photos via email. I love the eavestrough color and I would recommend that color for at least the fascia around the roof. That will give you the needed contrast between roof and stone. As for the window trim, I still like the dark color (very English cottage!), but if you think it’s just too much (there is quite a lot of trim around the windows), you can try a half-value of the dark brown first and always darken it up with a second coat. I think you’ll like the darker trim color against your stucco (right now the trim and stucco kind of blend together).

Although I love your red door, it is kind of dark in that entryway, and with dark brown trim around the door, perhaps a lighter door would pop more. How about something like Ben Moore’s Northampton putty (HC-89) which is a medium green and will highlight not only your roof but your stucco as well as your stone colors. Just an idea.

I am so happy to find someone to help me with this. We are planning to use vinyl siding to cover our old and “in much need of paint and repair” stucco. I am terrified to make a mistake on a very big decision. I am leaning towards a canyon brown colour but then as my decision gets closer I am afraid that with a red roof (which has just been replaced) that I should stick with the traditional white. We are having soffits and fascia and eaves all done in white. Please give me your thoughts! We are also having another roof placed over the front steps to break up the boring front of the house. All windows are going to be the rectangle as of tomorrow and the front doors are going to be double doors also rectangular.

I can’t wait to hear what you suggest!!

Kelly

PS I am not sure how to send a photo but if that would help let me know the email and I can send it.

You are an amazing woman keeping up with all of these pleas for help. I have been Googling for months now in search of advice on exterior paints and roof colors and I always seem to come across your site. So, I hate to ask, but I am now in a time crunch. We are getting a new roof for our craftsman bungalow and I am sooooo undecided as to what to do. You can read all about it (and see photos) at the website I left. Thank you so much in advanced for any advice you might be able to give as to both house color and more importantly at this time roof shingles.

Your blog is terrific! I liked your ideas on your July 25th post with the gold color for the body, the cream trim, and green/dark rust accents. And I really liked the more monochromatic roof.

With your brick, you really can’t have a variegated roof style or it will really clash with the brick and will look too busy (kind of like that other house you showed us). I think you’ll be much happier with more of a solid color roof — you have a historic house so the variegated style really wasn’t popular back then.

I read your other post where you mentioned that you wanted the door like the color of one of your Chinese pots. That would be fine if it were any color other than blue. Mixing a greyed-down slate blue with a clear vibrant cobalt or china blue is going to make them both look not so great. What about a bright yellow or orange. You’ve had red before. Either the yellow or orange would give you the punch of color you’re looking for without mixing shaded and clear values of the same hue.

I lucked onto your website looking for roofing colors and have a couple of questions.

I have a story &1/2 house built in early 50’s and I am doing some major renos on the exterior. I’ve just had the windows replaced and they are in a charcoal color. I’m also replacing the shingles in a dark grey to black roof. In the spring I will be re stuccoing. I was thinking of a butter color for this or a soft yellow.
What I was wondering is what color should the eavestrough and down spouts be, and what color would be good for the front door (currently its red)

Your eavestrough and down spouts will be the same as your trim color. When you said the windows are charcoal, is there a trim around them and around the perimeter of the house? White? Cream? Whatever the color, that will be the color for the gutters. (Exception: I like to make the downspouts the house color unless they go right along the trim piece.)

We are buying a 1924 home in Florida, everything in it’s original condition. The home has white asbestos siding, white trim, white windows, charcoal grey roof shingles and black wooden screens on the windows making them look like back squares. The front porch has brick supports for the white columns. The exterior doors (all 5 of them) are white and the porch (37′ x 10′) is painted a soft grey. We want to paint the body of the house a taupe colour like Olympic Prairie Dust D12-3, we want to leave the brick work red, new front front door with be stained a ride mahogany. I’d like to have white trim, but not sure about the wooden screens staying black? We are also putting on a new asphalt shingle roof and are not sure about the colour of that. I like black, my husband likes red…… What do you think? what about the porch floor colour?. Thanks for any help you can offer. I will ty and email you some pictures too

I like your black roof shingle idea better than red. With the brick out front, you would never match reds and it could turn out to be a disaster. I would stick with black or dark charcoal. (I’m not sure about Florida sun and a black roof — does that work for you??) I would keep the black wooden screens. They have historical value, and they’re not bad looking, especially with the brick and a black roof.

As for the front porch floor, how about the grout color? Sort of a sandy gray (versus the current battleship shade). That way the porch stairs and floor won’t stand out quite so much.

hi barbara,
we are really stuck with what color to select for our roof. We live in Toronto and have a colonial revival home that we are renovating. It was built in 1920 and we have restored all of the interior wood oak doors, wall panels and florrs….we love it.
The exterior is red brick, with yellow, black, brown and grey stone at the bottom. There are so many colors that we are not sure. Most of the colonials on the block have black roofs and white windows. We could go the same route but the difference with your house is that its the biggest house on the block and its the sunniest house on the block. all the other homes have big mature trees in front but ours has none. The onyl house with no trees…its in sun all day long…..

My husband and I thought of going with the color heatherwood (a brown tone) it would make the house look larger, warmer and more welcome, in our opionion. But we reallt are not sure. We would like to send a photos but we dont know where to send it. We look forward to your help.
Thanks-Elisa and Paulo.

So we got a good deal on a reroof. Discounted from another job… The architecural shingles were forest green (brownish/tan specks) I thought it would look ok but now I am not so sure. We were planning on repainting anyway, including contrasting trim colors. Can we make our little cabin look good again? I think a stain would have probably worked best but it is already painted. Happy to repaint the decks and ramp as well. What can we do? I don’t want to paint white or yellow or eww green. Was hoping to blend in not stand out from surrounding greenery. Any help would be greatly appreciated as we now have a 30year green roof to live with. Maybe I should have paid the extra 60%. I want to love the look as well – HELP?

We have a basic Ranch styal house. One medium living room window on one side of the entrance door and two bedroom windows on the other sideof the entrance door.

I painted one side (the living room side) two towned; below the window is white, the rest of it is a taracotta orange color. Now I don’t know what other colors to use. Our fence is a brick reddish orange stain cedar fence.

This house needs a new roof. It’s a white stucco older cape-style with dark yellow trim on the doors and windows. I have this crazy idea that a red rood would look neat, but after reading all these posts, I’m reconsidering. Is a red roof a bad idea on this kind of house? Leaving it grey just seems boring.

If you like the terracotta color, I would continue it over the rest of the house including the area below the front window. Keeping your house all one color will make it look bigger than splitting up the facade into two-toned areas. Having said that, you can keep the white for a trim color and add a great accent color on your front door (dark blue, dark purple, dark green, brown, or even turquoise if you’re in a particularly colorful neighborhood).

I agree that the house needs some color and I have seen red roofs on white stucco before. But you might consider what a warm red/brown roof might do to warm up your house and give it color. The red/brown would tie in the front steps without shouting “red!” and would allow you to use red as an accent color for accessories, etc. If you go ahead with the red/brown, I would warm up the trim to a camel/tan. The house color will stand out, but the whole look will be warm and welcoming.

A red roof is a real commitment and will be a standout in New Jersey. (There are plenty in California.) See if you think a nice reddish brown will give you the color you need. I agree. Forget gray.

If your house is white, I would stick with white trim especially living in sunny warm Southern California. Then you can use the red/brick for shutters and door. Red trim will just be too hot and too much.

As for your brick color, make sure there’s enough brown in it to go with your brick. Not too cherry.

We just bought an old country house (neocolonial style) in south of Quebec, and would like to change the color of the wood siding, which currently is a light yellow (not very nice). The metal roof is forest green (do not like either, but no sure to have the budget to change it ..).

I would like a light color siding, such as creamy white…what do you think ? Altogether, I’d like a more modern and young look.
Which color should we then choose for the windows (we’ll change them, white would be easy,..) and their trims ? The roof trim is currently painted yellowas the siding, I thought maybe we could so something else…

In the case we are have enough budget to change the roof color, what would you recommend to make a statement, with white siding ?

You might consider a cream for your siding with white trim around roof and windows and perhaps, if you have the budget and are so inclined, a rust-red roof. It’s quite dramatic and looks terrific with cream and white.

You can also do an additional darker trim around windows but that is the traditional farmhouse style. White will work for all trim — it’s fresh and clean-looking. And an easy way to update the house.

hi-we have an english tudor style home 2 mill value…all larger size brick brownish/red with stone and copper accents.dark brown trim….the roof needs to be replaced due to hail damage…my question is should we consider a shingle that contains the same tones as the house or should we consider an offset color such as slate..also size and style shingle? thank you jim

As for color, I like to stay in the dark brown family when there is dark brown trim on the house. I also think it warms up the brick. But a contrasting dark charcoal (slate) color will look quite nice as well. I would avoid a roof style that has too much variegation since that will take away from the beautiful brick.

As for roof material, I would defer to the roof experts since you want to make sure that there are no future leaks in your complex roof line (always a challenge with tudors). Historically, tudors have often had cedar shake roofs or slate. But there are more durable materials out there now that have a similar look but are more practical.

The teak looks like a good choice. Green works for some houses, but it makes quite a statement. With your house, I would stick with the neutrals. Then you can use the green for trim or change out the trim color at some point without worrying about the roof color.

A dark mahogany brown for the shutters and front door would round out this Mediterranean color scheme. Since you already have lots of color in the roof, chimney, and copper, a dark neutral like the brown will ground the house and dress it up. See what you think.

I suggest either an earth tone for your house color (rusty red with cream window trim, olive green with cream trim, or dark chocolate brown with cream trim) or a medium gray blue with white trim. Any of those colors will go with your thatch roof.

We have just recently built a new home and i am concerned with our roof color we have tan siding and wineberry shutters and the roof is dark brown i feel that the dark brown roof is almost overpowering. Please let me know what you think.

I think you’re just not quite used to the whole look yet. There’s a lot of contrast between the roof and the siding and that’s certainly to be expected with a light colored house. Once you get the front door painted and the landscaping done, you won’t even notice the roof anymore. You’re fine. No problem.

Have enjoyed the blog………..great information. But still have a question/questions for you. We are roofing and repainting a summer cabin (vintage 1906)in the redwood forest on the Russian River California. There is a very predominate front roof …………looking to soften with a darker color. It is very light now. I love green but don’t want to fight the abundance of green trees and such.

How about a dark rust color, kind of an orangey red-brown like Ben Moore’s Onondaga clay (1204) for the body of the cabin and then a dark green trim and roof? That would certainly blend the roof line a little more than the current light roof and would call more attention to the cabin than the roof (if in fact you’re surrounded by green). It’s a very woodsy look, especially with the dark green trim. See what you think. You can always go with a dark brown roof, rust walls and more neutral trim color, but I do like the green idea. There are few places where green trim and roof really look fantastic, and your spot sounds like one of them to me.

We are planning to paint the exterior of our 50’s Bilevel home . Our roof is light grey with walk up stairs in red brick. I am perplexed about what would be a good color if to go with a light grey roof and redness of the brick on stairs not to stand out. Also what would be a good entrance door color to tie the whole thing together. I would like to leave the window trim white.

One idea, if you really don’t want the brick on the stairs to stand out, is to paint the house a dark brick that will blend the stairs in completely. Something like Ben Moore’s Georgian brick (HC-50) or Onondaga clay (1204). Then to tie in the roof color, you could use brushed nickel for your metal color (door handles, porch light, etc). For a door color, you could do black or a charcoal gray. With a nice wreath on the door, you’ve got a great-looking house.

I am building a 1,500 single story beachfront cottage and will be using a modified vinyl roof in either bright green or bright blue. i am leaning toward the blue as the green will get lost with all the coconut trees and surounding jungle. i like the bold blue but and not sure i want to go with gray exterior walls. any suggestions on wall and trim colors.

What a colorful environment! I like the blue roof idea as long as you are trying to make your cottage stand out against the lush backdrop (most of the cottages I see in the Philippines have thatch roofs and a very natural, blend-into-the-environment style). With the blue roof, I would go with an off-white for the exterior walls and trim. The blue is going to grab the attention and I would use the color surrounding your house to round out the color scheme. You might consider a vibrant warm door color (sunny yellow or orange?) to add some punch.

I love color, and I am looking for the best advise to paint the outside of my home.

I live in a Florida Ranch Style has that has a dominant Dark Green Roof, since I have a 4 car garage.

Beige is hidious to me, and I believe that the light yellow that I have now is not warm enough and makes the roof stand out even more. My shutters are dark green and I just painted my door a deep red / orange color.

The Gold Buff has a lot of green in it, and I’m afraid it might be a tad harsh on your house. What about Behr’s Brandy Butter, an orangey yellow that will go well with the front door as well as the roof. It’s bright but then you live in Florida so embrace the color and don’t worry about your roof color.

If you think that the green and other colors make too much of a rainbow for your taste or your neighborhood, you can always paint the house a crisp white. The green roof and shutters and the red/orange door will look spectacular with a white backdrop.

We live in a 50’s single-level, simple, small ranch style home in Northern California that shows a lot of roof and garage. We are planning a home “face lift” — new composition roof, facade, new casement fiberglass windows, and adding wood trellising in the front for some passive solar benefits (the front is south-facing and gets hot in the summer).

I’d like a contemporary, simple look with an interesting mix neutral colors and textures, maybe with an accent of lime green and or orange. I like natural wood (cedar and weathered wood), silver accessories, medium and dark greys and browns and black. I’d like to stay away from too much trim, especially in white.

We are thinking about Certain Teed cedar 5.25″ lap siding in the cedar color for the upper 2/3rd of the facade. The lower third of the facade and the area around the garage door would be a smooth stucco (maybe a slate grey). Maybe paint the garage door in the same color as the stucco.

We’d prefer a roof in a light color to reflect the summer sun — maybe a light gray like Landmark Premium in Birchwood. The windows are a light grey but they can be painted. I’m not sure about the facia board and garage door trim, but possibly grey to blend with the roof and stucco.

Too much grey? Do you think that the cedar color and slate grey will complement each other? Will this all be OK with a light gray roof?

Also, the trellising in front will be natural wood. We are trying to decide whether to stain it to retain its original color or let it weather (I like both looks).

I like your proposed color scheme. I think the trick is to use a combination of different shades of both the gray and the cedar colors to get a pulled-together look. I would definitely stain the trellis a shade or two darker than the house color to contrast with the gray and stand out against the house (until it’s covered with greenery, that is). Ordinarily we would use the house color for trim (no white, as you mentioned), but it’s a little tricky because the garage will be stucco (gray) so without a photo, I’m not exactly sure which direction to send you for the trim color. Gray will work but will contrast with the cedar along the edges of the house (okay for fascia). Send a photo to my email bmeglis@yourhomeandcolorcoach.com and I’ll help you some more.

My family is moving into a brick home with a green metal roof and green shutters. The brick is a light tan and almost cream color to it. The house is pretty, but the color green is not my favorite. Since it is so expensive to change the roof, I wanted to know some suggestions on how to complement it with shutters or cedar shake on the dormers. I love cottage style so I’d love to know how to incorporate that into the house also.
Thanks for any suggestions!!

Cedar shakes are always a wonderful addition to a house. That sounds perfect for yours. You might consider the same cedar color for the shutters as well. That would give the house a country cottage look and I’m not sure you’d even notice the green roof. Make sure you have lots of flowers and shrubs in the front and a big pot of annuals on the front step. The roof will blend right into the environment at that point.

Dear Barbara,
We have a new orange terracotta tile roof and are trying to find the best stucco color that is more warmer than we have presently (gray). We are leaning towards creams and yellows but are overwhelmed with the choices. Please give us some color suggestions.
Thanks

For a terracotta roof, I love to see cream stucco on the house. It’s a classic look. Yellows work, but they can overpower the house (unless you live in Southern California, of course). I would stick with a nice rich cream.

We are building a home in the Maine woods. Exterior will be Hardie fiber cement with a board and batten look in “Timber Bark” color, which is a dark greyish brown taupe color. We’re doing a metal roof. Would appreciate your suggestion as to what color the metal roof should be. The only colors I really don’t like are red or blue. Lots of ppl in the area have dark green, but I’m not sure I want to look like everyone else. I’m open to your suggestions!

I just had my roofing done and I am contemplating on painting it chocolate brown or something darker than that, would you advise the same if my color combination for windows and walls would be something like coffee brown, beige and tan? Thanks in advance! :)

Hi Barbara:
I’ve sent you a pic of our house when we purchase it via email. We are getting a new roof courtesy of the 2008 wind storm that came through Ohio. I am usually very confident in my interior color selections but selecting a roof has me stressed-out! It’s expensive and difficult to “drape” colors over your siding and “just live with it for awhile”! The pic doesn’t do the roof size justice – it’s very big as the house goes back about 90 feet.
We have no plans to change the siding but the trim we can change. (The window boxes and door are black now.)
The roofer recommended something “brown” and we have to pick from Owens Corning Duration Premium. We like Desert tan or Amber but are afraid they are too light. But would a dark brown weigh the house down or look too boring (or neighbor’s new roof is Brownwood)?

Thank you for any suggestions you might have!
-Tracy
PS – landscaping is much better now – no more gigantic green “balls” lining the foundation if that helps.

We are remodeling our home from the inside out and really need some advise on paint color. The house has light red brick 1/2 way up the front of the house and the rest is siding. It has a lot of roof showing; it also had a 2 car garage in the front that I would like to keep painted white because it is the kind that does not require painting and two white columns.

We just installed the GAF architectual shingles in the color “Weathered Wood”(see link below). Kind of a light gray.

We are looking at getting an oak colored front door– or plain red? and would love to have an interior/exterior color scheme that is contemporary, yet warm and inviting… mustard, burgundy and green colors or gray and blues?

I would really appreciate it if you could suggest an exterior color and an interior color scheme (please include the brand and name if possible; as my whole family tends to be color blind) :>)

I love Weathered Wood as a roof color. Have a look at Ben Moore’s Berkshire beige (AC-2) or Springfield tan (AC-5) for the siding color. They’re both wonderfully rich neutrals that will complement your roof, the brick, and the white trim. As for the inside, I’m not sure what furnishings you already have, but you can always start with a light neutral for the public rooms and hallways and add accent colors from your existing fabric or upholstery. If you can send me some photos, I can help you pick those out. bmeglis@yahoo.com

I was wondering we have a brick house that is kind of a butter color. To be honest I really do not like the color very well. Anyway we need a new roof and we are going to put on metel. You suggest browns to go with creams but all the other houses I see look boring, the color looks okay but boring. could we put on hunter green? I was thinking of painting the door hunter green and eventually adding shutters. what do you suggest? this is a big expense for us and I would like it to look as nice as we can. Please Help, Thank You

Hello,
It’s Christy Bailey again, I know this sounds silly, but after going out and really looking at the brick. I think I discoverd why I don’t like the brick. First off the brick really is not yellow it’s a biege or a tan color and the brick is set in a red mortor.(I am a terriable speller so forgive me, please.) I don’t know if I should play on the red mortor with a red roof or ignor it and do the green metal roof, or maybe the brown? I really appreciate you getting back to the last time. If you could please help again I WOULD BE SO GREATFUL.

I think I would move toward a brown metal, simply because you already have two distinct colors on the house already with the tan brick and red mortar. I think green would just make the house look too busy (if the mortar were gray or beige, that would be different). Then you can use red accents around the house to tie in with the mortar color. Even red (rust? whatever the mortar is) shutters might really look sharp.

How about a rich plum raisin like Ben Moore’s 2082-20 or the slightly darker chestnut (2082-10). Warmer than a true brown, those colors would look great on your house. Then I’d really play up the color in your landscape by adding bright orange and white flowers and lots of greenery. Truly a happy house!

How about a nice rich plum raisin (Ben Moore’s 2082-20) or the slightly darker chestnut (2082-10) for your accent color? Warmer than a true brown, either one of those colors would look great on your house. Then you could really play up the color by adding orange and white flowers and lots of lush greenery to your landscape. Truly a happy house!

Hello,
Just wanted to say thank you for helping me with the color choice’s for the roof. I really needed the help. I think we have decided on the wine color for the roof. I’m so glad I found your web sight. THANK YOU SO MUCH,
Christy Bailey

I wonder if you can help me make a decision about what color to paint my front door and shutters. I have a tiny cottage that’s all a warm red brick. The roof is black. My door hardware is dark – an oil-rubbed bronze (dark color). Any suggestions will be very much appreciated.

Have a look at Ben Moore’s Richmond Gold (HC-41) for your front door. It will be rich next to your red house and will allow the bronze hardware to show up. I think I would stick with black for your shutters.

Hello!
I am so happy to find your website! We are in desperate need of advice! We just purchased a 1920s four-square bungalow……which came with a BRIGHT green roof! When I say bright…….I mean it! The house is in need of paint and we would like to stray from white! We’ve been considering many combos from the Sherwin Williams Arts and Crafts Exterior line. We are having a devil of a time deciding on what color considering the hideous roof. The roof is only 5 years old; so, we cannot justify replacing it just because of the color (though I would LOVE to). Any suggestions for the main, trim, accent colors?

Oh, I’ve seen much greener so you’re in fine shape. Plus the house is so tall that you’ll hardly notice the roof after awhile.

As for house color, I would bump up the value to make less of a contrast with the roof — that will help also. How about something right out of your brick on the front? Something like Ben Moore’s Deer Path 1047 or Richmond gold HC-42? Then you could use a combination of Cameo white for trim and pillars and even a touch of, dare I say, green (Dakota shadow 448) for around the windows. Hey, since you have the green roof, you might as well tie it in.

Hi,
We just bought a stucco house that was built 90 years ago that is white with dark brown trim trim that needs to be repainted desperately. The roof was redone three years ago and they put in a hunter green color. A lot of the roof is visible and I dont really like it. What color should we paint the stucco and trim that would suit the green and downplay it.
Thanks

Exterior color selection for siding and trim (and accent) for an addition (on the side) to an exisiting multi red colored brick ranch home with a brown roof is proving to be extremely difficult. The addition on the front was designed to have the new architectural features (peaks on added porch and windows) repeated on the existing structure so there is a good tie in. However, in the back we have one side all brick and the other side all siding. It is important to me that the back look as much blended as possible since the house backs to a golf course and will get alot attention from that direction.
Front doors will be a natural wood color and the peaks over the windows probably need an accent color. I’m trying to avoid too many color variations and I have tried samples of many BM browns and greens and a couple yellows to no avail. Any recommendations are appreciated. I can send photos.

hi Barbara,
can you suggest a stucco color that will look like the cement color grout? we are at lost the house is 50% stratford rose brick with the cement color grout and 50% stucco.the windows are pella ,divded lights, in poplar white. we are using a lymstone finish stucco by drivit and so far the pure cream seems too bright the other color we tried is the buchskin a bit less “yellow”
but we do not want the house to be too showy, it is a corner house 5000sqf with a large 14×7 portico in front .we are trying to “subdude it a bit. do you have any suggestion?
thanks mira

I am so glad to have found your web site that has a lot of tips. Can you recommend a new roof color? We are going to have roof replaced in two weeks. We currently have red bricks, white trim, and a very light purple natural color siding. We will not change siding colors for another 5 years.

I hope you don’t mind that I have sent a photo of the house to your email. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

I would darken up the roof to a charcoal gray to contrast with the white trim and the siding color and coordinate well with the brick. A darker roof is a little more elegant as well. But that’s about it. I like the palette and placement of color, especially the front door! Nice job.

I got all your photos over on email. I do like the color of your house with your roof color, but I would paint the trim a China White to offer some contrast. Then you can use black shutters and front door. Or paint the front door a rusty red to warm up the entry. It’s a classic look, but it won’t go out of style.

For the fence, you can paint that either black or China white.

I have no expertise when it comes to roof painting — I suggest consulting with your paint store and a well-respected roofer for advice.

Thanks for such a quick response.
I’m not sure if you’ve had a chance to view the photos I sent in an e-mail yet.
I’m happy you suggested a historical color because despite having to blend in the gray and green shingles, the original home underneath all the additions dates back around 200 years.

I looked up Nantucket Gray and found a photo of a home.
Siding: Nantucket Gray (Benjamin-Moore HC-111)
Trim: Elephant Tusk (OC-8)
Sash: Red River Clay (2091-40)

I also read of Lancaster Whitewash for trim. Could you direct me toward a specific white for my trim? I have old wood windows painted green, so I will be repainting them. Should I do a sash like Red River Clay or do you think it’s best to match my sash to the trim? For my front door is Georgian Brick anywhere close to what you had in mind? What color should I paint all the other doors?

The elephant tusk is a little richer than the lancaster whitewash and would make a nice pairing with the nantucket gray. Then if you are planning to paint the windows anyway, why not go with the updated look which I love — try mayflower red (HC-49) instead of the georgian brick for a little softer look at the windows. Then you can keep the same color for the doors. If you only want to paint the front door red, that’s fine. Others can be nantucket gray to blend and steer away guests.

PS The red river clay might be a bit pink. I like the browner reds better for your house.

You can see I’m reading questions backwards as I missed this most recent response. White trim always works for a traditional look. The other options that we’ve discussed are more trendy but very nice. You can also go with white trim and still paint your windows a complimentary color, like the mayflower red.

I’m so glad to have found this posting on your blog. Thanks for sharing your experience–it’s very helpful. I do have one question I was wondering if you could answer: What about light gray? Are there situations where a light gray roof works?

I ask because my wife and I have a blue house, and we were hoping to go with a shingle which is highly reflective in order to keep the heat down as much as possible on the upper floor, and thus save on cooling costs in the summer. The three “highly reflective” options we have to choose from are two shades of very light brown (“Cool Barkwood” and “Cool Weathered Wood”), and a light gray (“Antique Slate”). I’m guessing the two browns are out (from your post), but I’m wondering about the light gray.

Hi Barbara: Your blog is great so I’m hoping you can offer some advice. We are looking for a new paint color for our exterior. We have a ranch currently painted a deep 1960’s green with black shutters and white trim. We have new white windows and Owens Corning Estate Gray roof. Lots of greenery surrounds our house. We’d love to try a neutral to give a cottagey-seaside feel, but are open to suggestions. We need to lighten it up! Maybe Behr colors?
Any suggestions would be so helpful. Having a tough time finding a nice color to coordinate with the roof. Thank you!

How about a warm gray with white trim and black shutters? Then you could pick a warm color for your front door — something from your landscape. Very cottagey. (Nantucket is full of little gray cottages — a wonderful inspiration!) Try Behr’s Porpoise (790E-3).

Thanks again for all your advice! We did decide on the Nantucket gray. I’ve already painted our smaller structures and we love the color!
I will be painting the trim Elephant Tusk and the windows Mayflower Red as you suggested! The front door will be Mayflower Red and the others Nantucket Gray. So glad to have all this decided!

I do have one more question however! Can I really paint my 6 foot stockade fence black? Just looking for some assurance before I do it! (There are no rules here about fence color, I’m just concerned what neighbors/future buyers might think of it.) ^Black is the fence color of my dreams though!^

Dear Barbara;
We have a 40 year old 2 two story colonial that is in desperate need of a paint job. We bought the house 4 years ago and are finally ready to paint. Right the house is a bright, bright yellow with kelly green shudders and white trim. We want the house to have a younger look. The one thing we cannot change is the roof, which is a light greenish grey or silver with green hues. We were thinking of a lighter warm yellow for the house, white trim and either Benjamin Moore essex green or black forest green shudders. We are also thinking about painting the front door a classic burgundy. We are really stuck on the house color. I don’t want anything in the beige/tan or white families. I’m afraid of the lighter creams b/c if we paint the trim white they might blend too much. Any help is appreciated!!! Thanks Terri

Take a look at the Ben Moore Affinity Collection for some neat color ideas. Why not get rid of yellow altogether and think about something like Jojoba AF-460 for the house color, Jute AF-80 for the trim (or you could use white), and Chambourd AF-645 for the fabulous door color.

I have a red metal shingle roof and I am about to repaint my stucco, but I am having trouble choosing colors for the body of the house, the trim and the front door. My garage is currently white and my driveway and walkway to the front door is a golden sand colored paver stone (much like the desert sand from the sahara, or the pyramids).

Can you please help me with some color combination suggestions with the colors I have already? I was thinking about painting the garage door. So that can change if you think it would be a good idea.

I like the idea of bringing sand up onto your house. Since you already have such a prominent roof color, you really need to go neutral but white is not necessary. Using sand (or a shade of it) will tie in your driveway and soften the house. As for door colors, I suggest natural wood (dark) versus more red. Then add bronze metal (lights, numbers, etc).
Hope that helps.

I like your idea of using a sand shade, but do you mean sand color for the body of the house or just the trim? And if I paint the house any color besides white, should I consider painting my garage door to match the house’s body color?

I narrowed my colors down last night in my independent color selection and came up with this color set and wanted to get your opinion of my idea.

I came up with a white body for the house, with a grey trim, and red door. The static parts of the house are still the red metal shingle roof and the sand colored paver stones in my driveway and the walkway all the way up to my front door.

I stumbled upon your site and am so glad I did. I would love your recommendation. I have a white dutch colonial. It has a front porch with 4 big pillars on the front. There are two windows in the upper level and one bank of windows on the lower level. We just put on a new roof of weathered wood architectural shingles. I am struggling with what color to make the shutters. I have been reading that you would have suggested a black or grey roof…really wish I had gone that direction, but since we did not, I am wondering if you have any suggestions that could help. I would love to hear your thoughts on door color too. I refinished the original wood door last year. Right now it is a honey color. I am not sure if I am up for changing that yet or not, but would love to know your recommendations. Thanks!

Not a problem. I suggest thumbing through the historical color fandeck (at Ben Moore) and finding a sophisticated green/brown that approximates the darkest shade of your roof color. Hard to do online since weathered wood can look anywhere from green to brown. Take a look at Fairview Taupe (HC-85) and Kingsport Gray (HC-86) as well as Cromwll Gray (HC-103) and see if one of those might work for your shutter color. I would stick with your refinished wood door. The honey color will look fine with the rest of the palette.

My wife and I are getting ready to make an offer on a house. The roof is not in bad shape but it is tan and the exterior house color is blue/gray. I hate the house color and won’t be able to afford to change the roof immediately. All of the windows have white exteriors and the gutters are white. Any thoughts on an exterior color and trim color?

We are siding our home a cream color. I think it looks like a pale butter yellow color. We are struggling to choose a roof color. I like a dark gray with black shutters but my husband prefers a brown speckled roof with brown shutters. We have a contemporary cape home. The roof is very prominent in the front. What ever color we choose has to compliment the house. Please help!

I have searched the web and found you!
We are renovating a California rancher/rambler.
Our biggest concern is the awful roof color.
It is a composite roof and the color is Autumn Blend.
A brown roof with peach colors in it.
We have traditional/classic taste and have just moved from a beautiful colonial.

I am so confused as to what color matches a brown/somewhat peachy roof.

Since your roof is so prominent, the best way to blend it is to take a siding color right out of the composite roof colors. If a mid-tone neutral does not pop out at you, try a warm gray or a gray-green. Coordinating with the roof and not trying to fight it will actually unify the house and make everything look intentional. And then some bronze lighting and dark neutral shutters will give you that classic look you’re craving.

I have recently purchased an older ranch style house. The house has pine boards which are currently painted green (which is fading) with yellow shutters. The composite roof is needing replaced due to hail. This gives me an opportunity to pick new shingles and have the chance to paint the house a different color. I like hunter green but am not very fond of matching colors especially with houses. Would a hunter green pine siding go well with a brown composite roof?? b What are some suggestions you could give me??

The hunter green sounds a bit dark for your ranch. How about a medium green, something like Ben Moore’s Kennebunkport Green HC-123 that would look great with your brown composite roof. Then you could use a light cream for the trim (Cameo White). Nice! As for shutters, simple Board & Batten style in a natural brown stain would top it off.

I have a one story 900 sq. ft. L-shaped house with a shallow roof under some trees with Certainteed autumn yellow vinyl siding and hunter green laminate shingles, and slightly off-white fascia/soffits/gutters. I am considering black shutters and a deep red front door(inside the L and facing the street) with a black wrought-iron-like security storm door. Or should I go with green or dark green shutters and a green front door? Or…or…heellp. Its not too late to change anything but the hunter green roof, but I really like the yellow siding. The house is in a subdivision of mostly brick front houses in Michigan. Thank you for any help and advice.

Thanks for emailing me — the blog is swamped with requests and so am I at the moment. Sorry for the delay.

I would either stick with black shutters/black door or dark Charleston green shutters and door since you already have two very prominent colors on the house already. Then you can add a third color in accessories (wreath, pots, flowers, etc. in reds). Hope that helps.

Our house has a light-med. gray roof. Currently the exterior is White trim/White siding (colonial style home) We are looking to paint siding a color. What are some good choices to look good with the roof, keeping the trim white?

Well, here are a couple of ideas for starters. These are Ben Moore’s Historical Colors, very appropriate for the style of your home.

Stonington Gray (HC-170, a very pleasant light gray that would go very well with your roof),
your white trim and a Coventry Gray (HC-169) garage door or Edgecomb Gray (HC-173, a warmer alternative), with white trim and a Revere Pewter (HC-172) garage door.

Although they have a little more color than one of the “whites”, the size of your house can support a little more color. And your trim will show up much better with a LITTLE more contrast.

If these colors are still too rich, write me back. But I thought I would give them a try first. Thank you for visiting my blog.
Let me know if you need further help.

We are residing our house with Hardie Plank lap siding, the color is Monterey Taupe. It looks green/gray or putty. Should we go with a roof in the brown family or black. It is a difficult color to match, sometimes it looks tan and sometimes it looks green.

Looking for any help/tips. I live in Denver CO and have a two story light beige stucco house, white windows, trim color is a slightly darker beige. Currently the roof is a like a rustic cedar or tan color. I am replacing the roof and want to change things up a bit. Most of the neighborhood has the tan shingle or gray style. I was thinking of going a bit darker while staying in the brown family. I just don’t know if I need to stay on the lighter side since the tan shingle is pretty light or if I can go to a dark brown? Medium to light gray??? Anything is appreciated.

We just got a new roof put on terra cotta. The whole house is brick red and brown color brick. however we are getting new gutters and downspout put on. What color would you suggest for the gutters and trimming as well as shutters on two sided windows?????????? Thanks yours suggestion will help us alot on our decision.

I just bought a old house, single story, but very traditionals. basically rectangled. Old 1960 style orange brick (you all have seen it). I want to change out windows and exterior color but not sure what to do. Problem is it has a brand new red roof, so thats a no go replacing that. What do you think? Should i paint the brick a certain color or should i do like stucco thing or something? Also I have to plan this all out because of course I have to replace the windows with a certain color vinyl as well…Any suggestions or links to homes with red roofs would be awesome…Kind of hard to find examples :(

hi barbara, i know you have great ideas won’t you please help me out with the color of my house. the roof is blue(not dark) and so what color should i paint on the outside walls(brick) and windows (wood),its a three storyed building. please suggest.

We are replacing the roof on our 1983 tan brick ranch house. The roof is the most prominent feature of the house, so we want to get it right while coordinating with our brick exterior. The bricks have a varied assortment of browns in them. While the overall effect is a light mocha color, the bricks have terra cotta, cream, mocha and gray colors in them. Our first thought is a medium gray-brown (“driftwood”) roof that complements the brick.

The siding and trim will also be painted. We were considering a khaki for the cedar siding, with an ivory for the trim and nut brown for the shutters.

Along with the driftwood roof, have a look at Weathered Wood. It looks like it’s in your brick and would be really nice. Then try Bleeker Beige (Ben Moore HC-80) for your siding with China White trim. The beige is quite khaki so it should pick up the depth in your brick and the China White will pick up the cooler tones. I see a lot of green undertones in the gray of your brick but if that’s just my screen, let me know.

For shutters, I like either Texas Leather (AC-3) or Cromwell Gray (HC-103), another gray-green. You’ll know instantly when you paint up a board of these two colors (and the others, quite frankly) whether the colors in the brick pop out or not. You’re looking for colors that will enhance the depth of the brick so it doesn’t look flat and monotone. I think we’ve got it, but try it and let me know if we need to tweak anything. Samples are a must.

We just moved in to a “new to us” house. The house is only four years old and has BROWN board and batten siding that we really want to paint. The roof colour is dark green (that must stay) and the soffits and eaves are dark brown (debating on changing them to white Let me know what you think). There is a small amount of vinyl siding that we could change out very easily and also paint. Here’s the question…What colour to paint the house?

Since you’re keeping the green roof and you like a beachy look, how about switching out the brown trim/gutters, etc for white and painting the siding either Prescott Green HC-140 (a soft blue-green) with a Jamestown Blue HC-148 door (very beachy) or the sandy Revere Pewter HC-172 with an Audubon Russet HC-51 door?

The white trim will help to give the house a Cape Cod beach house look. The green combo will soften the green roof and bring out the neutral tones in the stonework. The Pewter combo will really bring out all the color in your stonework and give you an opportunity to pick other accent colors besides green. But the neutral siding will draw a little more attention to the green roof. Either will work, but it’s a question of what you’d like to highlight the most.

Thanks for your suggestions.. now if it would just stop raining for a few days so I could try out some colours

What if we left the soffits and eaves brown, would I stick with the same paint colours?
Another question… we are building a two car detached garage on the south side (left side in the picture) back of our property. We can pick any colours we want…. that’s why we need to get the house colour correct. The builder said that a steel roof would be cheaper. Should we do that or keep the green shingled roof consistent? Should we continue the garage with board and batten or use horizontal siding painted the same colour as the house (we do have some horizontal on the front of the house and across the entire back 3.5 feet up from the ground)

Yes you can keep the same paint shades even with the brown soffits and eaves. Go ahead and check them out.

As for the garage, “outbuildings” often have different roof materials from the house. Steel is more casual looking and goes well with the board and batten styling (kind of like a barn-look). Horizontal siding is more traditional/”formal” and goes better with a traditional shingled roof. (Of course, with both on the house, just about anything will work.)

If you go with a steel roof, I would not pick green. Opt for the bronze that resembles your soffits and that will pull the two buildings together. If you go with shingle, then match them to the house roof.

It’s still raining so we haven’t tried out any colours yet… hopefully one last question. We decided to change all soffits etc to white on the house and therefore going to put white on a garage . We met with the builder for the garage today(going to go with a metal roof). Now for the colour question. I love the look of metal roofs. Love the HGTV green home 2008 (or many of the Carolina type homes). What colour is that metal roof? Thinking white??? We have two whites to choose from “white white” and “bone white” (the second has more grey) What do we do? Or do you have another suggestion?

The metal roof on the HGTV green home looks light gray. I like that as opposed to a white-white — the really white roofs tend to disappear leaving the house or in your case the garage looking “roof-less.” (Extreme white works in Bermuda however!)

I would opt for a light gray or maybe the bone white as long as there’s some color in it. Either one will still go with your new white soffits. Personally, I prefer the medium-dark metal colors like Weathered Copper, Dark Bronze, Antique Patina, and Old Town/Charcoal Gray — all fine with white trim. Here’s a link http://www.nuraymetals.com/pr/colors/index.html

just finished new metal roof of copper colored shingles. Roof has lots of details and looks great. house is two story with 3 ft. base of stone, which surrounds entry (mahogany door). exterior is vertical wood panels, now painted aged, faded yellow. Windows have no trim, just trim on roof edges.

Would like to complement new roof with dramatic exterior color, perhaps a deep red, blue or green…but need advice. your comments well worth 20 bucks.

How about Ben Moore’s Wethersfield Moss HC-110 for your house color. The rich green will look spectacular with your copper colored roof as well as the mahogany door and the stonework. All very earthy and wonderful! If you’re looking for even more drama and less of an earth tone, take a look a Philipsburg Blue HC-159. It’s again a rich color (with some gray undertone) that will contrast vividly with the copper roof color (blue and orange are opposite on the color wheel so there’s lot’s of “energy” when you combine them) and the blue will also look good with the grays and tans in your stonework.

We just moved in to a “new to us” house. The house is next to the ocean in Maine. The house is old and has natural cedar siding that we really want to stain/paint. The roof color is dark green and the soffits, eaves and trim are yellow. There is also red brick on the front porch. Any advise as to the color to paint the house/trim/shutters/doors?

We love the beachy look and would like to hide the green roof as much as possible. Also we do not like the look of the red brick can we paint it?

With a natural cedar house, I suggest continuing with a natural stain instead of paint. Then with your dark green roof, you might consider painting the trim dark green — it’s actually a classic Adirondack Mountain/ocean cottage look and I think it might work well with your house. You didn’t mention the windows, but those would be painted dark green as well.

As for the brick, that’s a little tricky because of the salt air. I’m not sure how well the brick will hold the paint. But you can ask your local paint dealer about that and if you can paint the brick, go right ahead. A dark brown would hide the brick and blend it with the house color.

Oh I’m so hopeful you will be able to help me. We live in Florida and our home is a Mediteranean style two story home. We are replacing the tile with a shingle roof and then we will paint the house.

Shingle colors are possibly driftwood or weathered wood or sunset brick (a reddish brown) or ?? Then I was thinking of using color on the walls and a light trim. Color on the walls maybe in a tan color. We have lots of live oak trees in the yard.

I like pismo dunes but it may be a little on the pink side in large quantity (best to paint a test patch). Valley Forge Tan AC-35 is not as pink but it’s still a grayed taupe. With that you could use the warm sail cloth for trim or a crisp white. For that combination, I would use one of the earth-toned roof colors like Weathered Wood. Definitely get a sample to put up on your roof and check. You’re really shaded in there so the nuances of the darker colors may be lost.

If you like the Sunset Brick roof color and it’s certainly warm and colorful (comparable to your clay tiled roof in terms of attracting attention), then I would stay warmer/neutral with the siding color. You didn’t want to go gold, but what about Richmond Bisque (Ext)? With a China White trim color (has a touch of gray in it to cool things off), that would be a very striking combination.

The Sunset Brick is the roof color I have been drawn to. I guess I didn’t want to go too safe or boring having all of that color in the tile all of these years. So I feel better about making this selection after reading your comments. The Richmond Bisque and China White may be good colors too. I may get back with you once the roof is on and I have a sample of the Richmond Bisque. Thanks so much!

Hi,
I just found your website and I am glad I did as my husband and I are going crazy on finding an exterior color.
We have a Certainteed “Weathered Wood”(brown color) roof and right now the house is light gray and I would love to change it as the gray doesn’t go well with the brown color roof. We would like to go in the tan, beige colors but everytime I go into the store and come home with samples they have a tinge of green or yellow in them and its hard to see it in the store. We don’t want a dark beige but would like to stay on the lighter side . We really don’t know what shade would look the best.
Would you happen to know of any colors we could look into?Also what color would you paint the foundation of the house with a beige,tan house?
Thanks for your help,
Linda

Have you looked at Ben Moore’s Adobe Beige AC-7, Butte Rock AC-8, and Bradstreet Beige HC-48 yet? No green or yellow in those beiges, but let me know what you think of them. Shaker Beige HC-45, a touch less pink, may work as well. It’s best to paint up a sample board (foam core works) and prop it up next to your roof (or roof sample if you still have one). All the beiges including those with green and yellow undertones will work with your roof color. Weathered Wood seems to go with almost everything. Right now it’s up to you and your personal taste.

Dear Barbara,
I’m going nutty trying to figure out what color to paint our wood windows and trim. Our log cabin has a gambral wood shake roof that is a medium to dark gray. The logs are medium brown. The gray I believe is a cool color and the brown a warm. How do I coordinate the trim colors. I like grey greens/blues. I don’t want to paint them hunter green. Also any suggestions for a door color would be appreciated! thank you.

Have a look at Philipsburg Blue HC-159 (Ben Moore) and Amherst Gray (HC-167) or the slightly greener Duxbury Gray HC-163. All are grayed-down colors that will coordinate with your gray roof and provide some cool contrast to your warm log color. Yes, I would choose something other than hunter green, but I would pick a dark color for your windows/trim in fitting with the style of the home.

See what you think of those colors. Send a photo to bmeglis@yahoo.com or insert a photo link here on the blog if you’d like me to zero in on a more specific color.

We just moved into a colonial/saltbox style home (no columns).
Anyways, the house is yellow with green shutters and a brown roof. I would like to paint the shutters a different color but the brown roof is throwing me. Black would be my first option but again the roof would be problem. Could I go with a dark green that is close to black? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Since your house is pretty far from the street, how about adding some color to the shutters — something like Ben Moore’s Sweet Rosy Brown? Or Tudor Brown (Ext) would definitely work for a traditional look. Then you could jazz up the front door to a nice warm Spanish Red.

An olivey green will work too as it will tie in both the brown of the roof and the yellow siding color. Look at Tuscany Green (2140-20).

I have a Spanish/Mediterranean house with a red clay tile roof. The windows are vinyl-clad trimmed in white with muttons, and I’m trying to decide on a house color that will not look too washed out or pallid with those windows (as I think cream would). The houses on either side of me are in a similar style, but with brown trim and sort of a muddy brown/green house color. My patio is brick.

I have a few trim options, for example the gutters, the sills underneath with windows, the sidelights around the front door, the chimney, and a large picture window that has some relief around it away from the wall. I feel limited by the white trim of the windows, but painting them (even if normally possible) would seem to defeat the maintenance benefit of leaving them white. The windows do not have shutters, and the stucco around them bull noses directly into them around the sides and top. The muttons themselves could be painted or removed.

How about embracing the Spanish palette with something like Ben Moore’s Harvest Time (186) or Honeywheat (179)? Either of those would be very appropriate with your red clay tile roof and would certainly distinguish your house from the neighbors’. The white trim would pop — nothing would be washed out or pallid with this scheme. You might restain the front door to a darker brown so IT doesn’t get washed out (the light wood is fine with a cream house but any stucco color will require a bumping up of the front door color as well).

I also suggest a slight trimming of your shrub in front of the right picture window — that architectural feature needs to come out from hiding (unless privacy is a real issue and you like the bush there…).

See what you think of the warm Spanish palette — any extra trim could be brown to go with the door, Georgian brick (HC-50) to go with the brick/tile roof, white to go with the windows, or a natural sandy concrete color. With a vibrant stucco, I would lean toward neutral trim.

And this will allow you to keep all the grilles/mullions/muttons as is for easy maintenance!

Hi Barbara and Happy Holidays.
I am writing to you from Miami Beach, FL. I am the president of our small condo association of 20 owners in a three story 1924 Mediterranean building with incredible authentic details intact. We are in the midst of a renovation of the exterior of the building for spalling/rebar replacement issues while maintaining all original design. My question to you would be paint colors for this period piece. It currently has ochre colored ext walls with details of greens and reds. Do you have any thoughts about going lighter on the exterior walls with a creamier white and keeping the detail colors? This seems to be prefered in some of the historical preservation photos I have seen for this style and period of architecture. All best, Philip

I agree that going a little less bold on the yellow exterior walls might be a way to update the building while keeping with the Mediterranean style. Have a look at Ben Moore’s Antique Lace 922, a light creamy yellow, and Devon Cream OC-102, with a slight peach undertone. Either one of those will look good with the greens and reds you mentioned and will be perfectly appropriate for a Mediterranean structure.

What color would you suggest for our 1930″s style craftsman home we are remolding in the Olympic mountains? We would like to get a metal roof as it snows often. We are thinking of a warm color that is reminiscent of earth and bark. It is also a humble and rustic color, which conveys a sense of respect for and understanding of the area. We are in the early stages and want to replace front door and move a front window as well.
Thank you,
Pam

I love the idea of sticking with earth tones for your Olympic Mountain home. Bronze is a good metal roof color for blending in with the environment. I would not suggest any greens. They often don’t work with the surrounding foliage. But browns and dark grays work well.

Hi Barbara,
I have a tan house with dark brown and white accents. I’m wondering if you could comment on what roof shingle color would look best. I’m leaning towards either a dark brown to match the trim, or a sandy color, but any suggestions are appreciated! I was initially leaning towards a dark chocolate color, then thought I should go lighter, and now I’m stuck. Here are a picture from two summers ago. All the best!

This is easy! I would definitely go with a dark brown for your roof color. It will be striking with your siding color and white trim and it will really bring out the dark brown accents. The lighter sandy color will look a little washed out with your siding. Plus the darker roof will complement the traditional style of your house.

We’re planning on putting up a new house in the Philippines and we’ve settled on a white color roof scheme due to it’s supposedly heat reflective features. What wall color would blend well with the white roof? Also, we want to maximise an airy feel inside the house. Any tips on color schemes?

The answer is… either will work. It depends on whether you want to blend the massive deck (if it is one) into the house and highlight with pops of other color (umbrella, deck chairs, and other accessories) or whether you want to show off the architecture of the deck by highlighting the deck itself. In that case I would coordinate it with the copper roof color — nice! But highlighting the deck will make it a feature of the house so the landscape around the deck will need to be addressed if it isn’t already… hope that helps to answer your question.

Barbara – We currently have a darker brown steel siding, that we will soon be replacing with fiber cement siding. We replaced the roof a few years back with Burnt Sienna, and would like to go lighter with the siding. I see in the above article that creams, tans, browns, and greens would be ideal. I think we are probably leaning toward a flavor of tan, depending on the siding we choose.

A few things that I am unsure of are the corner trim on the siding, the window trim, soffit & fascia, and also the garage door color. Garage doors are currently brown. I am leaning towards same color as siding for the corner trim, white for the soffit, fascia, gutters, and window trim. Would white be the best option for the garage doors as well? Thanks for your time!

Baught a cedar log Home recently, with a two car garage about 30 feet away.

Had the outside of the house renovated with a light cedar stain,and it looks great.
Want to do the medal roof using a Ben. Moore Forest Green color. The roof of the garage, I want to do the same. Problem is, garage sides are painted a dark red stain and it looks terrible.

Want to paint it a color that will blend in with the Forest green roofs of both buildings and the cedar house.

What about painting the garage a warm brown that coordinates with the variegation in the cedar. Something like Ben Moore’s Maryville Brown HC-75 or Valley Forge Brown HC-74. Either one of those should go well with both the cedar (yet not upstage the cedar like the red does) and the green roof color.

My place is wonderful place to live. Privacy! View the nature as I sit on my redwood deck. I have a lovely tan house with green shutters and beautiful natural stones (gray/dark gray/very light gray/some faded light brown mixed) on over an acre of land. Immaculate Split Foyer. I would like to know what color I should to have for our roof. Please e-mail me since I will know that you say your feedback. Thanks

We recently purchased a small Chicago style stucco bungalow with a light grey shingle roof with a hint of green. We want to change the color of the stucco and are a bit stuck as to what to go with in terms of stucco and trim combination. We were thinking of more modern colors like grays, gray/blues, gray/greens, but we just can’t seem to find the right one, or combo, and we are open to any suggestions you may have. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve e-mailed you a photo of the house to give you a better i’d of it’s current color and the houses next door. I’ve also emailed a few photos of the house with some different color options. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

I love the Thundergrey option — the last photo — with the grey-beige trim and the red door! Striking! And very contemporary. Since your neighbor has a green house, I would definitely opt for the gray instead of going with the gray-greens (previous photos). There will be no confusion when you describe your house color to guests. You don’t have to mess around with “the dark green house next to the light green house,” etc, etc.

Plus the gray goes well with the roof color. In the back, you might paint the panelled porch the trim color (beige) and the trim/stairs a brown to match the front steps. That will coordinate back with front without painting the whole house gray.

Please help! We are having our house painted tomorrow and I’ve been debating all week which color we should choose. We have a rather unusual green roof. With splashes of red in places. Any ideas? I’m thinking now a grey/green/blue color for the body with white trim and a blue accent door. Do you have any ideas?
Thanks!

Please help im in a world of anxiety and cant find my way out of this one!
I just baught my house 3 months ago and thought i could make it look nice just by painting the darn thing but boy was i wrong ! My problem is
that thee roof has verry light grey collored shingles and it has some1.6 feet of light tanish peach collored rock trim around the bottom of the wall,,almost like a desert sand collor.!please ,,,what do you recomend?

Hi,
We are building a single story small house. I am planning to paint it with bright yellow on walls and blue roofing. Please advice if is worth become beautiful with contrast colours.
Regards,
Sanjay.

I would be happy to take a look at a photo and help you with your paint color. Please use the PayPal button on the site and then forward a photo to me at bmeglis@yahoo.com. I will get right back to you.

I’m getting new white vinyl windows eventually and relandscaping to have less grass and more zeroscape type look with pavers and or ground cover and rocks./bushes etc. The new palms in the picture are taller than the roof now.

The only idea I have is to replace the green shutters with varnished or natural pecky cypress,natural to FL. I wonder if I need to do shutters on the side windows as well as the front?

The green will blend your roof, make the crisp white windows and trim stand out, and coordinate beautifully with the natural shutters. If you can swing a natural front door, that would top the whole palette off nicely. Otherwise, I suggest a color that works with the shutters — something like Mystic Gold (HC-37).http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/mysticgold

With such a prominent roof color, we really don’t want to add too many other permanent colors to the house. Accentuating the wood shutters is the goal. Then you can bring in landscape color, pots, chairs, and accessories with no problem.

See what you think of that palette. I hope that works perfectly for you.

Great Article! Thanks for your advice. With this in mind, I can find the perfect color for my house roof. As of now, I saw a website that features a vast selection of roofing materials and colours as well. Check this site http://www.metalroofingonline.com.au .

SORRY CORRECTION I have a very long mountain ranch and just put a Maroon-Terracotta Metal color Roof on and have redone the porch in a very dark wood ( a blackish brown. The gutters are also almost black and the corners of the house blackish brown color
Im trying to find a good match for the HORIZONTAL plank siding. It is old and cant be stained only painted Any Advice would be appreciated

Check out Ben Moore’s Lenox Tan HC-44 as one possible option to pull together the roof and the porch without adding too much contrast (a lighter color). The medium tan should blend well with the surroundings.

Hi! I’m hoping you can help me. I have a light brown roof that has pinkish undertones. I want to paint my house a light blue. The roof is in good condition so we do not need to replace it and we do not really want the added cost of painting the roof shingles. I know, from your post and others, that either a grey or black roof is best for blue. Is there anything that you can recommend to make a blue house work with a brown roof? Thanks in advance!

I’m building a straw bale house with a metal roof. I want the roof to be as cool as possible and also have something that looks nice. White is the best for the cool roof because of reflectivity. What colors would be best for the house if I go with the white roof? Another choice would be a light tan. What colors would be good with tan?

Barbara, we purchased a mountain home in 2012 and have completely remodeled the inside and landscaped the both the front back yards. The first thing you notice is the metal green roof when you approach the house. I would like to replace it with a shingled roof so that it will hold the snow load in the winter rather than sliding off plus it is 25 years old and is showing its age. The siding is stained brown entirely and hope to keep it if possible but would be willing to update the trim. Attached is a picture. What do you suggest for a color?

Hi Barbara,
We bought an 80’s rancher a couple of years ago. The sprinkler system is well water and has left an orange hue on the brick from the iron in the water. We desperately want to paint the brick. Our roof is brown with an orange tint as well (not from the well water!) . Our shutters are brown.. I am in orange/brown hell!! We are at a loss as to what color to paint the house. We live on the bayou, so I am going for a coastal feel on the inside, so i want to make the outside look comfy as well. I am emailing you a picture.. Please help.

Thank you in advance for your help and guidance. We live in San Diego and have a 1960’s ranch style home with a brown shingle roof. We bought the home in 2010 and the previous owner said the roof is about 5 years old. We will be painting our home in a few months and would love some ideas for exterior color ideas and trim. All of windows have been replaced and are white double pane.

My house is a light blue and trim is a darker blue almost like a Navy blue. I have brownish colored shingles on right now but because of storms last yr I need new shingles, if I go with a blue shingle would that be to much blue. My windows and sliding doors are white.

Although I love a blue roof, it does make a statement. You might be better off with a charcoal gray. Very nice with both light and navy blue and quite versatile if you decide to paint the house another color someday.